Daniel Ocean's Daughter
by GoonieGirl
Summary: She was Daniel Ocean's Daughter. One of the eleven providing her skills. The Benedict Job as they called it was what she had been waiting for all the years he was in jail. She knew they would get Benedict where it hurt most, something she wasn't gonna mis
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: I kind of expected some stories in this section on one of their daughter's being in on the heist. Since I couldn't find one or I overlooked one… Sorry… I decided to write one of my own which I hope you will enjoy. I personally think it's good but it's up to you to decide! So please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with or anything affiliated with ocean's 11. And probably only will if I perform a heist with George Clooney to steal the rights. But since I do not see that happening…

I hadn't seen him in years. Not till he walked in on our poker game. The table was filled with broken down actors and people who had nothing to do but lose money and hang out with thieves like us. Like me and Rusty, though I'm sure the others had their own share of prizes from shoplifting, we were different.

Most of them knew that we were different. Topher even had some deals with Rusty from time to time. But all of them were different. They didn't have money stashed in safes or a gun armory that could arm the white house or a phone with all the numbers of every person they ever did a heist with.

We weren't spies. We weren't hired for the government and never did any jobs for them. We didn't try to catch bad guys since the line between a thief and a bad guy is kind of thin.

We did have gadgets but we certainly weren't supplied them legally, since where's the fun in only having legal gadgets in a heist. I can't say how many times those illegal gadgets saved me from getting caught.

We didn't go to school for the stuff we do. Quite frankly many of us got kicked out of school for the stuff we do. But that doesn't stop a true thief.

I learned from the best. One of the best old school thiefs who knew what he wanted and knew how to get it. He taught me the ropes. How to deal with anything that came my way. By the time I was fourteen years old I was a true thief and had a major part in the Black Jacket Heist of 1985.

It shouldn't have surprised me to see him after all these years. The man that taught me everything. It shouldn't have shocked me after all I had heard through the grapevine his parole was up. But I was shocked.

Something a thief hardly ever admits or shows on his face unless causing a distraction or in private with other thiefs. Which I wasn't. I was among washed out celebrities and Rusty had just walked out for a smoke when Daniel Ocean my father walked in on our poker game and invited himself to the game.

"Are you gonna gawk at me all day or are you gonna hug your father?" he laughed with arms open wide as my mouth hung open in shock. My mouth formed into a huge grin as I ran and hugged him.

"Fill me in" I whispered into his ear.

"I will" he whispered back as we parted. I knew what was gonna happen as any good thief would know. Daniel Ocean was going to steal back what was stolen from him. And I was gonna help him.


	2. Chapter 2

I guess I should explain some stuff. Like why I'm writing this anyway. Since the first rule of being thief is to never rat any one out or talk about any previous heist when regular people are around. I guess you could say this is my little black book. It's my account of what happened through my eyes. I know were not supposed to write or talk about any heist, but what's wrong with writing it down if no one sees it? There will be one day I will have to burn my writing, after all everything said in here is highly classified and if anyone knew I knew as much as I do there would be hell to pay. For me and the people mentioned.

I don't even know why I'm writing this since it's so sensitive. But I think it's because I want to be able to look back on what happened and what I've done. I don't want to forget everything. I want to have something to remember from my years of being a thief. I want to have the memories.

The things I stole are nothing if I don't have the memories of stealing them. The high and adrenaline of taking something that isn't yours is amazing. It's a rush I can't describe and I never want to forget. Not that I'm supporting becoming a thief cause it's a business no one can never really get out of.

If your in it your in it for the rest of your life. And believe me it isn't always glamorous. It's not always the stuff of movies. People get hurt and sometimes the bad guy does win. And your at the end of your rope knowing you can never win. And you can't.

Eventually your gonna get caught, your gonna get burned, your gonna die, or your gonna try to walk away. Either one of those roads don't end well, but we all continue doing what we do, play like we have nothing to lose. But we do. We always do.

It's not glamorous. If you want glamorous go to Hollywood for a while. You'll see glamour but you'll also see pain. You think those broken down actors would be at that poker table if everything was glamorous. I wanted the glamour too. I'm human, but I settled for being a thief. It's probably much easier than whatever those actors and actresses do.

It's the life I chose and I'm not sorry. Being a thief was always in my blood and I accepted it and chose to be one. I had a choice and I live with what I chose. I could have lived a normal life. But seriously, normal is overrated!

"What's this?" Rusty asked a confused look on his face as we shared a look. He knew who it was, but that's the way thieves greeted other thieves when people were around. It was easier to pretend you didn't know the person than explain how you knew the person.

"The bouncer mentioned there was a game in progress. I hope I'm not intruding. Just wanted to my little girl" he said reaching over and hugging me causing me to flinch.

"No intrusion at all. Any family of Abigail's is my family," Josh smiled. I was an extra on the set of Dawson's Creek for a while. I was involved in the Ruby heist back then and needed a reason to be in one of the actresses trailers. Once the job was done I got out of there but Josh never seemed to forget that we once starred together. Or the fact we once dated. But he always seemed to forget the fact he cheated on me. He was a great actor but I have to admit I stopped watching Dawson's Creek after Jen and Dawson broke up. It seemed to soap opera like to me and believe me I can do without that kind of stuff.

"What was his name, the bouncer's?" Rusty grinned knowing who it was full well.

"I don't remember" Danny replied casually making me smile. We'd all used Frank to get information on a subject or to rig the slots at the casino. Usually we used him for the latter.

"A card player with amnesia. This should be fun. Got to say I will be sorry when your old man loses, Abigail. I mean it isn't too early to bow out Mr. Ocean" Rusty teased. I laughed as Rusty winked at me. We both loved giving Danny a hard time. And since we hadn't seen him in many years we had some teasing to catch up to.

"Not a chance" Danny grinned from ear to ear as the hand was dealt.

After a hand of poker, talk on how Daniel went to jail, and me dying to find out how we were gonna get Benedict back it was finally over. Daniel won the hand of course with a little help from rusty and me. What am I saying? We basically did the whole thing. All Daniel had to do was show his hand… Finally we all said our goodbyes and headed to McDonalds. You wouldn't think thieves go to Mcdonalds, but we do. Quite frequently actually. How else are we gonna get food fast while were working a heist?

"What do you want? Coffee?" Rusty asked. I flipped him off.

"Coffee it is" Rusty laughed. He knew I hated coffee. I learned from experience that coffee is the easiest drink to drug. I haven't drunk it since.

Daniel and Rusty went to stand in line as I went to get a seat. I knew they were gonna talk about me as they stood in line, so I was prepared to do some lip reading. One of the things that comes in handy with being a thief.

"You sure you want to bring Abby in on this?" Rusty asked.

"No, but you know she'll be in it one way or another"

"Ain't that the truth" Rusty laughed.

AT THE TABLE

"It's tricky. No one's ever done it before. Needs planning, a large crew"

"I'm in" I said immediately.

Rusty and Daniel looked at me in shock.

"Hey what can I say? I haven't done many heists for a while."

"Guns?" Rusty asked taking a sip from his coffee.

"Not loaded ones. It has to be very precise. There's a lot of security. But the take…"

"What's the target?"

"Eight figures each"

"What's. The. Target."

"When's the last time you were in Vegas?"

"That would have to be…" I racked my brain.

"The Holloway Heist" Rusty finished.

"Or was it the one with the helicopter?"

"No that was the Yukamurua Heist?"

"Oh, is Roger still in jail for that one?"

"No I think he got out last year"

"What he never called me?"

"Abby, can you focus please?"

"Yeah sure. Danny, Rusty's right what is the target?"

"Casinos"

"More than one? That's… That's…"

"Never been done" Danny finished.

I looked over at Rusty. He was nodding his head.

"Till now" I smiled.

**GREEN COUNTY LIBRARY**

"Hey whatever happened to that guy you were dating? Dick?"

"Rick! Danny! It was Rick! And I broke up with him last May"

"You gotta tell him the story!"

"I am not gonna tell him the story! It was embarrassing!"

"If you don't I will"

"God, I hate blackmail" I sighed.

"Okay, I broke up with him and he ran around screaming 'Freedom' and kissed the first girl he saw."

"Where were you?"

"On an escalator in Sears"

"He?"

"Yep. Who knew he could jump over it so fast"

"Here we are! Blueprints! All the casinos in Las Vegas!"

"The vault at the Bellagio"

I went through all the blueprints till I found it. We all stared at it for a couple minutes in silence.

"Wow, Danny you sure know how to pick em don't you?"

"If I'm reading these right - and I think that I am - this is probably the least accessible vault ever designed. Oops. Actually, you know what, I'm wrong. It's definitely the least accessible vault ever designed" Rusty yelled.

"Yep" Danny said his eyes never leaving the blueprint. Rusty and me shared a puzzled look.

"You said three casinos…" I pointed out.

Danny flipped to the next blueprint.

"These feed into the cages at both the Mirage and the M.G.M. Grand. But every dime ends up here" Daniel said pointing to the vault.

"So were stealing from Benedict?" I asked pointedly.

"Yes, think he'll mind?"

"More than somewhat"

**ELEVATOR**

"Danny I've met Benedict. He is obsessed with keeping his money close to him! I don't have a problem with getting Benedict where it hurts! I don't have a problem with the fact that it's…"

"the least accessible vault in the world"

"Thank you. What bothers me is that if we do get his money he will go after us. And I don't just mean for a couple months or even a year. I mean until he finds us and.. And.."

"Kills off everyone we've ever known?"

"I wouldn't put it past him"

"I know what I'm doing Abigail"

"You better because Benedict isn't gonna forgive something like this. Even if he can just open another 3 more casinos in their place."

"Your gonna need at least a dozen guys, doing a combination of cons"

"Ahem"

"Oh yeah a dozen guys and Abby"

"Thank you"

"Like what, you think?"

"Well, off the top of my head, I'd say you're looking at a Boesky, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, and a Leon Spinks. Oh, and the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever"

"You forgot two Jethros"

"Where do you think you're gonna get the money to back this? Besides the money in the vault which they may never see? You gotta be prepared for it doesn't work."

"It will"

"It better or your gonna have a lot of people after you for their money"

"Nothing out of the usual"

"So, here's what I think: You should take this plan, kick it around for a week or two. Sleep on it. Turn it over in your head. Then: never bring it up to me again"

"Uh-huh. So what are you saying?

"I'm saying: this is like trying to build a house of cards on the deck of a speeding boat. Abigail may have faith this is gonna work cause she's used to having to grope in the darkness not knowing what she's doing it for. But not me. I need a reason. And don't say money."

"Because yesterday I walked out of the joint wearing my entire wardrobe and you're cold decking Tiger Beat cover boys. Because the house always wins. You play long enough, never changing stakes, the house takes you. Unless, when that special hand comes around, you bet big. And then you take the house"

"You've been practicing that speech, haven't you?"

"A little. Did I rush it? It felt like I rushed it."

"No, it was good"

"I don't get it"

"You never get it"

"True"

"I wonder what Reuben will say?"

"I don't think any of us have to wonder."


	3. Chapter 3

"Abigail!" Danny's voice jolted me from my sleep.

"What?" I screamed down the stairs, pulling the covers over my head.

"Did you take Johnny Depp out to do his business last night?"

"He's a grown man I don't think he needs to be taken out to go the bathroom"

"Hahaha! Very funny Abigail. I'm referring to your dog that begged for and then proceeded to name after my most hated actor and your favorite."

"Oh, crap!" I yelled jumping out of bed and running down the stairs at lighting speed.

Danny met me at the bottom laughing. "Yeah, oh crap is right. We have a big pile of it on your mother's favorite rug!"

Danny wasn't kidding. I stared at the rug in disbelief. Who knew a dog could crap so much!

"You sure this isn't Rusty's or something?"

"No, why?" Danny asked confused as he got out a gallon of milk.

"Cause I may have a better chance of not getting grounded if it was Rusty that popped on the carpet and not Johnny Depp"

Danny laughed spilling milk all over the place. "Your probably right. She never has had a soft spot for Johnny has she?"

"Nope, not even after you were gone she left with what's his name. She pretty much stepped on him as she walked out the door."

"Really?" Danny asked uncomfortably. Mom was a tough subject. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

"I mean what is a Benedict anyway? Isn't it a household appliance or something?"

"I don't know" Danny said looking at the counter intently.

"Well, this poop isn't gonna clean itself up" I said grabbing a trash bag and a pair of gloves.

"That's my girl" Danny laughed. "I'm gonna go take a shower okay. Rusty's gonna be coming by to drive us to see Reuben.

"Why do we always have to go in Rusty's car? You know how many things have been transported in that car? The whole thing smells like a crack house."

"You know I never realized that before. Your right" Danny said thoughtfully as he climbed the steps.

"I know I'm right. I'm always right" I yelled after him.

"God, did you do that?" I jumped as I turned around to see Rusty.

"Funny, I didn't hear an alarm?" I said nonchalantly.

"Your due for an upgrade."

"I'll tell our security people, but I don't think they have anything Rusty proof."

"They don't, which brings me back to my first question. Are you cleaning up after yourself or someone else?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, you guessed it! I've been trying to hide it for years, but it's about time you know. I….I…" I cried fake tears as I ran to Rusty. We hugged.

"It's okay. It's okay" Rusty said brushing the hair out of my eyes.

"I… I just don't know where the bathroom is."

I busted up laughing at Rusty's shocked expression.

"That was pretty good, ya know. Your getting better every time I see you."

"Of course I am I am after all Daniel Ocean's daughter."

AT REBUEN'S

"You're out of your goddamn minds"

"I was right" I said covering my ears at his yells. I know that spies are supposed to be aware of their surrounding and ready for anything, but not me. The only thing I was ready for was coffee made only by me and a couple do-nuts.

"Are you listening to me? You are, both of you, nuts. I know more about casino security than any man alive. I invented it, and it cannot be beaten. They got cameras, they got watchers, they got locks, they got timers, they got vaults. They got enough armed personnel to occupy Paris!" Reuben continued yelling.

We glared at him. "Okay, bad example" he admitted. We all were familiar with the not too long ago thing that happened in Paris involving armed personnel.

"It's never even been tried!" Danny protested.

"Oh, it's been tried. A few guys even came close. You know the three most successful robberies in Vegas history?"

We all looked at each other unsure. "You guys have no excuse I wasn't even born!" I cried out when they all looked at me.

"Danny?" Reuben asked expectantly.

"What can I say? I wasn't interested in who stole what from a casino back then?"

"Rusty?"

"I think I'm gonna go with Danny's answer"

"Good choice, since you all seem illiterate to the casino robbing world you will soon find there isn't much of one. The first guy took almost three steps before five security men leaped at him. The second guy got two steps closer to the door than any living soul before him. Second most successful robbery. The Flamingo '71. This guy actually smelled fresh oxygen before they got him.Course, he was breathing out of a hose the next three weeks, goddamn hippie. And the closest any man has gotten to robbing a Las Vegas casino... Outside of Caesar's in '87. He came, he grabbed, he got conquered. Believe me you can still see his blood on those steps if you look hard enough."

We all sat in silence listening to Reuben's story. He looked back at us with a question in his eye.

"But what am I saying? You guys are pros, the best. I'm sure you can make it out of the casino. Of course, lest we forget, once you're out the front door, you're still in the middle of the desert!

I looked over at Rusty. I raised my fingers to my cheek and tapped twice. Rusty nodded and took a swig of his cup with a florish signaling Danny.

"You know he's right. I mean what chance did we have anyway. The amount of the team, the amount of equipment! He's right it is bizarre."

"It is! Thank you Reuben!"

"Reuben, you're so right! I am so thankful you set us straight about that! You know your like a godfather to me" I said sweetly running to hug him. He was surprised by the gesture as he hugged me back. I tried not to gag on his stench as I managed to reach his wallet with all the names of his contacts.

"Thank you so much Reuben, you just saved me from having to breathe out of a hose for the rest of my life!" I cried wiping away fake tears. I followed after the others away from the house.

"Just out of curiosity, which casinos did you geniuses pick to rob?" Reuben yelled after us. I smiled as I looked over at Danny and Rusty. I almost thought he would never buy it.

"The Bellagio, Mirage, and the M.G.M. Grand"

"Those are Terry Benedict's casinos"

"Say, you know, he's right."

"You guys... What do you got against Terry Benedict?"

"What do you have against him? That's the real question"

"He torpedoed my casino, muscled me out, now he's gonna blow it up next month to make way for another eyesore. Don't think I don't see what you're doing."

"How do you torpedo a casino?" I muttered under my breath.

"You gonna steal from Terry Benedict, you better goddamn know. This sorta thing used to be civilized. You'd hit a guy, he'd whack you. Done. But Benedict... At the end of this he better not know you're involved, not know your names, or think you're dead. Because he'll kill you, and then he'll go to work on you."

"That's what I said" I whispered to Danny.

"That's why we've got to be very careful. We have to be precise. We have to be well-funded"

"Yeah, you gotta be nuts, too. And you're gonna need a crew as nuts as you are. Who do you have in mind?"

I smiled as I looked from Danny to Rusty, to Reuben. We were one step closer to getting Terry Benedict where it really hurt.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: I hope you like this chapter I'm really trying to breathe life into my character and get the other characters right. I'm not sure who Abby's love interest is gonna be, but if you have any suggestions I would appreciate them!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Ocean's Eleven or any other movies I used quotes from in here.

"Alright. Who's in?" I asked. We were gathered around a table at Reuben's.

"Just got off the phone with Frank C. He's in. He's developed a bad case of bronchitis and is putting in for a transfer to warmer climates" Danny answered.

"Do you ever realize no one uses an original excuse. It's always I'm sick or my grandmother's sick. Someone is always sick. It's never I gotta pick up a lama from Napoleon Dynamite or anything like that."

"Cause no one would believe that" Rusty said rolling his eyes.

"I'm just saying people should spruce up their act" I pointed out.

"Okay, who else? What about drivers?" Reuben asked.

"Not the Mormon twins!" I shouted.

"What's so wrong with the Mormon twins? As I recall you and Turk had a thing back in the day?" Rusty said elbowing me mischievously.

"We did" I groaned. "Which is what I'm worried about."

"Come on your break up can't be as bad as the last one?" Rusty laughed.

"We made an agreement stating we'd never work together again, that if we ever saw one another one of us would go running for the hills, and that we have joint custody of the earnings from the Gerald case," I admitted.

"That sounds reasonable" Danny agreed.

"Yeah, it was the only reasonable thing we could come up with we both agreed on after I tied him up and beat the crap out of him."

"Well, I talked to the Malloy's yesterday…" Reuben cut in.

The room went silent. Reuben shrugged. "I figured you'd come to me with some crazy plan so I made sure to be ready. They both seem like they have too much time on their hands."

"What else is new?" I muttered.

"What did you say sweetheart?" Reuben asked.

"Nothing," I replied waving him off.

"What about Electronics? Livingston Dell?" Danny suggested.

"Livingston's been doing freelance surveillance work of late for the F.B.I. Mob Squad" Reuben provided.

"Oh, I'm sure they love him" I muttered.

"How are his nerves?" Danny asked concerned.

"Okay, Not so bad you'd notice" Rusty admitted.

"Which means there as bad as always" I pointed out.

AT AN DINER

"Munitions? Phil Turpentine?" Danny asked as he sipped his coffee.

"Dead" Rusty answered as he set his coffee down.

"Really how? On the job?" Danny asked in shock.

"Sun cancer," Rusty replied.

"Well he always was spending all that time in Hawaii. You know what that does to your skin?" I pointed out looking at my skin.

"Uh, huh. You send flowers?" Danny questioned.

"I did," I replied.

"Dated his wife a while" Rusty admitted.

"Rusty! That is so wrong!" I cried throwing my sandwich across the table at him and missed.

"I would be more scared if you were aiming for the chair next to me."

"Your lucky you look like Brad Pitt or I would have dislocated your arm for that comment."

"Okay, moving on. Basher…" Danny continued unfazed.

OUTSIDE A LOCAL BANK

They were leading basher out handcuffed when we arrived. Daniel had already bugged us after dropping us off and saying he had business to do.

"Okay, put on this police uniform" I said handing Rusty the uniform.

"What? Where did you get this?"

"Let's just say I have a couple buddies on the force and they were more than generous when I promised them 5% in the findings from the Hanks case. Now hop in the back and change!"

Rusty glared at me. "Okay, fine fine have it your way" I muttered as I got out of the car and joined the other spectators. You know how sometimes they find the killer in crime shows by looking at footage from the crowd. Well, they actually do that real life so I made sure to be less noticeable.

"Okay, I'm done" Rusty said climbing out of the car. He looked good! Brad Pitt good!

"What?" he asked after I had stared at him for some time.

"You almost look presentable"

"Uh, huh. Your giving me the look you have every time Top Gun is on TV."

"No, I'm not" I said looking away.

"Admit it you like a man in uniform"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay so I like a man in uniform, but don't tell Danny!" I warned.

"I won't" Rusty laughed as he went to do his job.

"And that's all you used during the event? Nothing else?" a police questioned suspiciously.

"Are you accusing me of booby- trapping?"

Rusty did his thing while I watched as a crowd of girls gave Rusty goo-goo eyes.

"I've got him" Rusty said into his bug. Which came to my part.

"Blow the car" Rusty directed. I looked at the car I was to blow up. A mustang.

"But, its such a nice car"

"And yet, do it" Rusty replied.

"Okay" I said as I hit the remote on my clip in my hair. I ran to the car as Basher and Rusty got there.

"Long time no see!" I yelled to Basher as the bomb went off.

"It's good to be back with real professionals again!" Basher yelled back.

r/r Hope you liked it!


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: This chapter isn't my favorite, but I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Ocean's 11 or any other movies I may have added quotes from to spice up the dialogue. The beginning dialogue was inspired from Thelma and Louise.

"Hey Danny, you better slow down. If we get caught over a speeding ticket the cops are gonna have a field day. A nuclear bomber who just committed a crime, a dealer in illegal…" I looked over at Rusty. "Things," I continued, "the wonderful girl that can do just about anything, and what do you know? Who's in the front seat? Oh yes, it's that man that just got parole and is speeding down the highway at what? 90 miles an hour?"

"Something like that," Danny replied nonchalantly.

"She a point Danny. Where are we going in such a bloody hurry?" Basher agreed.

"The Chinese National Circus" Rusty answered.

I rolled my eyes. "No, seriously where are going?"

"The Chinese National Circus!" Rusty repeated.

"Shut up, Rusty!" I yelled. "Where are we going Danny?" I asked in my normal voice.

"Maybe you should listen to Rusty." Danny chuckled.

"You mean…" I started.

"Were actually going to a bloody circus?" Basher finished.

"We need to find our grease man somewhere." Danny shrugged.

"But a circus? Cause some many criminals of run around there. Make sure to keep away from those clowns!" I said sarcastically.

THE CIRCUS

"Hey, they have some guy here who's 200 years old." I said as I leafed through the pamphlet.

"Come on, Abby you know that's not true. He's probably not even a hundred. Nobody lives forever." Rusty said annoyed as he took another handful of popcorn.

"Frank Sinatra gave it a shot" I said absentmindedly turning the page in the pamphlet.

"And what happened to him?" Rusty asked his eyes never leaving the stage.

"He died." I shrugged.

"Proving my point." Rusty said taking another handful.

"No, just cause he died doesn't mean someone else can live forever." I said annoyed at the conversation.

"Okay, Abs. If you live forever I will take you to whatever movie you want and buy you the biggest popcorn money can buy." Rusty said gesturing to the big popcorn on his lap.

"That's one popcorn I don't think your ready to buy" I agreed as we shook hands over the popcorn.

"Cool it mates! No one cares if your gonna bloody live forever!" Basher yelled as the room went quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen: the amazing Yen!" the ringmaster's voice rang out.

"So he can walk on a rope? So what? What's the big deal?" I whispered to Danny.

"He can do more than that" Danny whispered back.

Ven began to juggle. "So he can juggle. We need a grease man, not an acrobat. Who else is on the list?" I asked annoyed.

"He is the list" Rusty and Danny said in unison.

"What?" I said loudly causing the families around us to shush me.

"Oh, shush yourself!" I yelled back.

Ven held onto the wire and did a flip onto another wire. Even I was impressed.

"Danny, I think we got ourselves a bloody Grease man!" Basher agreed.

RUSTY AND DANNY AT THE CAR

"We need Saul."

"You know he won't come. He swore off the game about a year ago."

"Abby?"

"Nope, I don't think even Abby's superpower's are gonna get him to come back. That soft spot he has for her is only so soft."

"He get a religion?"

"Worse. Ulcers."

"Well, you could always get Abby ask him." Both of them laughed.

AT THE TRACK

I smiled as I spotted him sitting on the bleachers under the box seats. I pulled out the apple I had brought to soften him up.

"I saw you in the paddock before the second race, outside the women's room, when I placed my bet. I saw you before you even got up this morning."

"Same old Saul" I laughed as I sat down beside him and handed him the apple.

"What the heck is this?"

"The doctor said you need vitamins"

"You need to stop doing that, darling"

"Doing what?"

"Looking up people's medical records. It's not something a civilized girl would be doing. One of these days your gonna caught." Saul said as he took a swig of a glass of wine a waiter had brought him.

"Uh, huh. Whatever, Saul. Rusty went all out and got a box seat you gonna come up or are you gonna watch it from this crappy view?"

Saul laughed. "I never have been able to turn so down a box seat."

"Who could?" I agreed.

IN THE BOX SEATS

"So did you ask him?"

"You told me to lure him here not to ask him in on the heist of the century!"

"Great, just great Abigail!"

"I'm not gonna ask him. I got him here, my job is done. You have the easy part! All you gotta do is walk up to him and say "Are you in or you out?"

"I'm in" Saul said. I turned around to see that Saul had been sitting behind us the whole time.

Please review and let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with ocean's eleven or the references to 27 dresses or Aladdin. Please enjoy! Linus will be in the next one I promise!

"How'd it go?" Danny asked as he heard the door slam.

"He lost as usual. The guy is one of the best thieves in the history of thieves and he still doesn't know how to rig the dog race to his advantage" I laughed as I hung up my coat.

"You know what I mean Abigail," Danny chuckled at my joke.

"Oh, yeah he's in" I answered nonchalantly.

I watched as Danny spit out his beer in shock. "Are you serious?"

"As serious as an heart attack" I replied casually.

"But Rusty said it couldn't be done?"

"Why are you listening to Rusty?"

"True. Good job! We should celebrate!" Danny said as we high fived.

"Don't worry Rusty already took care of it. He went all out for pizza."

"How much was it?"

"How much do you think it was?"

"Around five bucks?"

"Pretty much, it was a crappy pizza you wouldn't have liked it anyway."

"So where are the others?"

"Oh, I don't know…" I said acting bored. The phone rang with my ring tone "Benny and Jets" which alerted me immediately of who was calling. Rusty. We both loved 27 dresses, hence the ringtone.

"Uh, Danny I kind of need to take this!" I said as I turned around.

"Someone better be dead!" I yelled into the phone.

"Then drive around the block! No, I haven't asked him yet I gotta lay down some background and then go in for the kill! You would have never made it as a sniper! I know I'm not a sniper, but that's not the point! Okay, I gotta go." I continued into the phone.

I turned around. "Danny? Danny?"

"Why are the guys just now pulling out of my driveway?"

"Uh, see Danny Rusty wanted me to ask you outright and everything, but you know how I usually like to lay groundwork before I ask you anything…"

"Spill it!" Danny demanded.

"We wanna go to the casino! To celebrate us all being together you know!"

"I don't know Abs. I need to go make some calls... check on some things…" Danny sighed making him look older than he is.

"Play some blackjack?" I added. We stared each other down. Both putting on our best game face. Danny smiled.

"Well, when in Rome…" Danny sighed.

"Oh my gosh! I love you! I love you! Thank you so much Danny! You won't regret this!" I said kissing him on the cheek.

"Believe me I already do" Danny admitted as he got his coat.

I ran out the door of the house where the guys sat in the car after their drive around the neighborhood and did the fist pump.

"Alright!" Rusty yelled as I climbed into the backseat. We were off to celebrate and do what thieves do other than steal. Play cards.

AT THE CASINO

"You know you're smarter than all of them, Mate" Basher pointed out gesturing to all the hot tables around us.

"I know, but Danny will freak if he catches me counting cards again. Mom will never let him live it down for having the movie 'Counters' on while changing my diaper."

"Come on, Abby. I'm sure he won't mind. I mean what did he expect you to do come to a casino and not count cards?" Rusty laughed elbowing me.

"I don't count cards anymore. End of story."

"Don't or won't?" Rusty asked.

"You know, technically, it's not illegal mate," Basher agreed.

"Yeah, that's why the cameras on every table and expert shrinks watching the footage"

"Come on Abs. Like Basher said it's not illegal!"

"But it is frowned upon!"

"So is running with scissors! Come on Abs!" Rusty elbowed me again.

"You just want that money I owe you and to make Danny mad."

"True, but you know you want to have that feeling of knowing your superior than everyone here don't you?" Rusty said knowing the answer.

"Okay," I sighed rolling my eyes as I sat down at a table.

DANNY AND RUSTY AT THE BAR

"How's Abby?" Danny asked taking another shot of Bloody Mary.

"Either playing blackjack insanely well, dancing, or having a chugging contest with the guys." Rusty shrugged.

"Sounds about right." Danny nodded.

"Hey, guys!" I giggled as I veered toward them dizzily. I tripped to the counter as both Danny and Rusty caught me.

"Nice catch!" I giggled. Suddenly I didn't feel so good. The next thing I knew my world went black.

"We need one more don't we?" Rusty sighed.

"Oh, yeah definitely." Danny agreed.

THE NEXT MORNING

Ugh I said as I rolled over and in one swift motion fell off the bed. I groaned as I held my head. It was pounding. I got dressed as best as I could and headed downstairs where everyone else was.

"Speak of the devil, did you even brush your hair?" Rusty asked as he handed me a glass of orange juice.

"I knew I forgot something" I muttered.

"I don't know how to tell you darling, but you look like…" Reuben started.

"Crap, I know" I finished. "What did I do last night anyway?"

"Oh, nothing big. Just threw up all over me, by the way you owe me twenty dollars for dry cleaning; passed out on the casino floor so Danny had to carry you home, you won a couple thousand dollars but we haven't been able to find out where it went, you sat on the rug at the casino and started singing a whole new world." Rusty admitted.

"Oh don't forget you and Abby's big debut. You and Rusty got up on stage and started singing Bennie and jets. You weren't even half bad. It was kind of like that movie… what's it called?" Basher recalled.

"27 dresses" I groaned.

"Yeah, that's one."

"Remind me to never go to a casino with you guys again" I sighed.

The front door opened and Danny's keys jangled as he put them in his pocket.

"Did you get him?" Rusty asked Danny entered the living room.

"Yeah, I did. Good pickpocket when he wants to be."

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked confused.

"We got another player added to the table. You'll like him. He's your type" Danny said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Handsome, funny, smart, and no priors with the police?" I joked.

"No, he's ugly, has a beard, and has never been caught" Rusty answered.

"Doesn't sound too bad" I shrugged.

We had all the players now. We just needed to meet and go over the plan. I knew this heist was gonna be different because now we couldn't play it like we had nothing to lose. Cause we do. We always do. And if this didn't work Danny and me would lose the thing most precious to both of us. My mother.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: I'm sorry to say but Linus is not in this chapter… But he will be in the next I promise you and then things are gonna get crazy! So I hope you hold on for this hopefully wild and funny ride. But I do have some good news! Turk is in this one along with Virgil!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Ocean's Eleven.

"You all packed Abs?" Danny called up the stairs. My bag landed at the bottom of the steps with a plunk.

"Wow, I guess after I left you started to travel light," Danny laughed as he began to carry it to the car. He returned to see 4 more bags where the other one had been. "I guess I spoke too soon" Danny sighed to himself.

I started applying my lipstick when a car horn honked jolting the lipstick container all over my face. I groaned as I checked the damage. It wasn't too bad.

"I hope you like prison food!" I screamed out the window at Rusty who continued to honk the horn. He even started to dance to the blaring horn sound that continuously lit up the morning air.

"Is he always like this?" Saul asked Danny gesturing towards Rusty who was still laying on the horn.

"Sadly, yes. But he and Abby usually go at each other so much it goes from annoying to amusing" Danny replied as he continued to take my stuff out to the car.

"I'm sure it does" Saul laughed as he went to his seat in the car.

"Will you bloody cut that out?" Basher yelled ending the chronic honking. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my sleek black heist rope and began to propel myself out my bedroom window.

Everyone watched waiting for me to fall, but I didn't. Years had taught me falling and being scared of heights were not an option. I landed squarely on my feet and headed toward the car.

"You had to didn't you?" Danny laughed as I handed him the rope.

"Of course," I scoffed. "You didn't think I would start a heist any other way?"

"Okay," I said opening the car door. "When we meet up with Turk don't mention our past relationship it's a touchy subject and he hasn't exactly gotten over it."

"This is gonna be a fun trip" Rusty laughed.

AT THE AIRPORT

"Hey, I think there's a noise coming from your bag" Rusty joked as I placed my luggage with the others to board Reuben's plane. There was no way we could get through the bag check at a normal airport with the amount of explosives, weapons, and illegal military spy materials in our bags. So Reuben was kind enough to spring for a ride to Los Vegas in his personal plane.

"Sorry, my bags apparently aren't sound proof" I replied. "Where are they anyway?"

"Sounds like your in a hurry to see Turk?"

"Yeah, I'm in such a hurry to see the guy I made an agreement never to work again with again and beat up?" I said rolling my eyes.

"That sounds about right mate" Basher agreed.

"Speak of the devil" I muttered as a monster truck I hadn't seen since the day I ran for my life from it. The monster truck sped to a screeching halt in front of me. The dust from it was so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

"Your late" I said waving the dust out of my face. I heard a door slam and as the dust began to clear.

"Does that surprise you?" a familiar voice asked. I looked through the dust to see that he was standing right in front of me.

"No I guess it shouldn't since you were late to every date we ever had, even the unofficial ones. As I recall you were even late the day that I beat your sorry butt to a pulp and said I would never work with you again." I replied dryly.

"Same old Abby" Turk said his face breaking into a smile. He grabbed me and gave me a big hug, lifting me up from the ground. I laughed as he twirled me around.

"So what made you change your mind about working with me again?"

"I don't know. Danny kind of talked me into letting you be in on it. And I mean how could I refuse the guy I beat to a pulp and was chased down by in his monster truck. I mean you don't work with those kind of people everyday!" I joked.

"You know I called you about working the Ferdinand heist but you never got back to me!"

"Sorry, about that I must have been undercover or had a heist, or just didn't want to talk to you…"

"Well, you never have been one to work with many people twice, Abs. It's good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too" I smiled. I was shocked to actually mean it. "So no hard feelings about the way it ended?" I asked casually.

"No hard feelings" he said loudly hoisting me up again as I squealed.

"Hey, can we get on the plane now or do we have to watch more of this chick flick?" Rusty called out.

"Yeah, don't I get a hug from my brother's ex-girlfriend?" Virgil joked. I looked at Turk. "No" we both said in unison.

"Yeah I figured you would say that" Virgil admitted.

"I'm just kidding! Come here Virgil!" I said as I gave him a big hug.

"Abigail if you and the twins do not get on this plane the plane will be leaving without you! I'm sure we will be able to find two drivers in Los Vegas!" Danny yelled out the window.

"Were coming!" I called as I heaved my suitcase up the walkway to board.

"Have you ever traveled light?" Turk joked behind me.

"Have I ever as long as you've known me?"

"Nope."

"There's your answer."

R/r Hope you like it! Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: I don't like this chapter, but I don't think it's gonna get any better if I work on it anymore so here it is. I know I said Linus would be in this one, but sadly he's not. I swear he will be in the next one though…

"Well that was an interesting plane ride" Danny commented as we got off the planes steps.

"It was wasn't it?" I agreed as I lugged my suitcase behind me.

"I honestly didn't mind you and Turk's rendition of Grease Lighting," Danny smiled.

"What about me and Rusty's version of 'you're the one that I want?" I laughed.

"I could have did without that one," Danny grimaced.

"What are you saying about me?" Rusty asked catching up with us. I rolled my eyes.

"Danny didn't like our version of 'you're the one that I want." I answered.

"What? It was better than Turk's and Abby's version of Grease Lightning!" Rusty said in mock shock.

"Whatever you say, Rusty," Danny joked.

"You don't know good music Danny," Rusty said shaking his head.

"And you don't know how to sing," Danny smiled as we all put on our aviator sunglasses.

"Fair enough" Rusty admitted.

"So when am I gonna meet this newbie?" I questioned. I looked behind us. The others were still stumbling to catch up.

"He arrived at Reuben's a couple of hours ago" Danny replied.

"Why couldn't he go with us exactly? I mean were not the worst people you could fly on a plane with," I scoffed.

"Abby, you dance and sing to the musical Grease? What newbie in his right mind would want to spend a whole plane ride with us?" Rusty pointed out as if it were obvious.

"Good point. Newbie's aren't usually the dancing and singing type," I agreed.

"Why are you so worried about him? You think you may have a thing for him or something?" Danny asked cautiously.

"No, of course not! I just like newbie's. They are innocent to our ways. They aren't like us you know,"

"Well, this guy isn't exactly innocent…"

"What do you mean?" I asked curious.

"He's Bobby's son…" Danny admitted.

"As in bloody Bobby Caldwell?" I looked behind me to see Basher had caught up with us as well as the others.

"Never thought I'd see the day he let somebody trade on his name," I scoffed.

"Maybe retirement has made him more lenient on that," Danny suggested.

"Yeah, and I'm Jack Dawson's wife," I said sarcastically.

"The pianist? Why didn't you invite me to the wedding?" Rusty joked.

"Shut up!" I said as my spy theme ring tone lit up my phone.

"It's Reuben everybody shut up!" I yelled.

"Hey, Reuben! Yep, were here! No I have not met him yet, but I'm sure he's good or he wouldn't be in. We'll be there in an hour to two. It depends how many casinos we go to and how much money we lose. I'm just kidding Reuben! We would never go to any casino without you! See you soon!" I talked into the phone.

IN THE CAR WITHOUT ABBY

"So you guys think Abby has a thing for Bobby Caldwell's son?" Turk asked worried.

A chorus of "Definitely" and "Uh huh" were heard.

"You planning on trying to pick up where the old relationship stopped? Cause I wouldn't go there. It ended with her beating the crap out of you. I can almost guarantee it will happen again." Rusty said leaning back with his hands behind his head lazily, and his aviator glasses covering his eyes, which were probably closed.

"As I recall the only time she dated someone and it didn't end badly was when she dated you?" Virgil admitted.

Chorus's of "When was that?" and "When did that happen?" were heard.

"We are not getting into the details of our personal relationship okay!" Rusty said putting a stop to the chorus. He took his aviator glasses off and put his face in his hands.

" Changing the subject! No one has asked me how I would feel with my goddaughter dating you!" Saul pointed out.

"Saul, my friend, would you mind if I dated your goddaughter?" Turk asked.

"I don't care who she dates!" Saul admitted crossing his arms in satisfaction.

"Good, okay… How am I gonna do this?" Turk asked himself.

"You know this isn't high school right?" Virgil laughed.

WITH ABBY OUTSIDE A FAST FOOD PLACE HEADING TO THE CAR

"So you got a thing for this newbie?" Turk asked cautiously, taking a smoke.

"That was random" I admitted confused.

"I heard Rusty talking" Turk shrugged.

"I told you to stop listening to Rusty! I still can't for the life of me figure out why everyone listens to him! I haven't even met the guy jeez!" I threw my hands into the air.

"Okay, just making sure cause I uh… Well, the only reason I took this heist was cause of you."

"It wasn't cause you love to drive thieves around and you want to be in on the most elaborate heist since Mission Impossible?" I joked elbowing him.

"I really want to make this work, Abs. Really. Were meant for each other you know and I want to make sure you don't have feelings have feelings for anyone else." Turk said taking me hand.

"Turk, you know I hate it when you go all serious on me. You don't have a thing to worry about! I just want to get through this heist without getting caught!" I laughed.

"And Rusty?" Turk asked after his kissed my hand.

"What about him?" I laughed.

"I know back when we were together you had a thing for him. That's why we broke up, remember. Cause he was between us."

"No, as I recall we broke up because your too serious sometimes like for example now, you love your monster trucks way too much, and cause you thought I had feelings for Rusty cause of our little trip to Paris. Oh, and you had trust issues." I said taking my hand back angrily.

"So you would consider getting back together?" Turk asked.

"I'll think about it okay. I just want to focus on this heist and getting back what I lost." I admitted. "But I promise I'll think about you okay?" I added when I saw his face fall.

"Good, that's all I can ask." Turk smiled sadly.


	9. Chapter 9

"What, you guys get a group rate or something?"

"Hello to you too Reuben" I replied as I plopped my stuff down on the couch.

"Be careful! I tried to put all the most valuable things away, but I can't put away everything!"

"I'm not the 7 year old that had a habit of breaking stuff anymore!"

"No, now you're the young woman that has a habit refined by her father" Reuben glared at Danny before finishing, "of stealing things"

"I cam reassure you, Reuben if I wanted to steal from you, you wouldn't have anything valuable left in this house, no matter where you hid it." I replied.

"That doesn't exactly reassure me" Reuben grumbled.

"So where's Bobby Caldwell's kid?" I asked as I walked out of the room.

"Out on the patio. You guys took long enough!" Reuben yelled over his shoulder to me.

"Well, Abby needs to take bathroom breaks every couple miles so it takes a lot longer than it should. You should of seen her on our vacation to Paris…" Rusty laughed.

"I heard that!" I yelled as I walked out of the glass sliding doors.

"I'm sure you did" Rusty replied.

"Very interesting shoes" I commented at the way the guy was staring intently at his shoes. He looked up and smiled. He was cute.

"Yeah I guess" he said embarrassed.

"Don't worry I'd be fascinated with my shoes too if I were alone with Reuben."

"He doesn't get company much does he?" the guy joked.

"Other than people selling illegal items and people able to do illegal jobs? I'd have to say no. I'm Abby by the way." I said sticking out my hand.

"Linus" he said as we shook hands. I grimaced.

"Is there something wrong?" Linus asked confused.

"No, no it's just Linus?" I grimaced. "You look like a Mat or a William, I wouldn't have guessed a Linus in a million years."

"Well, I'm Linus" he shrugged.

"Lighten up," I laughed. "I didn't mean anything by it. It's a good name. You want a beer?"

"Aren't we supposed to…"

"be sober when we listen to the plan? We gave that up a long time ago" I finished. "Besides, the plan never seems to work out good anyway."

LATER

"And I'm the seductress slash professional everything. I usually do the undercover stuff."

"Abby hasn't been telling you lies I hope" Rusty said setting his beer on the edge of an end table. I smiled sweetly as I kicked it over sending the beer all over Rusty's shirt. The next thing I knew Rusty had picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. I screamed in surprise as he threw me into the swimming pool.

"Like I always say it's not a heist till Rusty has thrown Abby in the pool" Saul laughed taking another swig of beer.

"Here let me help you!" Rusty offered his hand. I smiled evilly and pulled him in with me.

"Okay, Rusty and Abby were gonna start if that's okay with you?" Danny asked disapprovingly. Rusty and me climbed out and Linus offered me a towel. I took it and smiled. "Sorry, you had to see that. I grew up with him and we just…" I gave a roundhouse kick to Rusty's butt as he walked away. "…pick on each other," I finished.

"I can see that!" Linus laughed.

"Okay, Everybody eaten? Good. Everybody sober?" Danny asked. The patio went quiet.

"Ahem" I coughed.

"Close enough" Danny shrugged. "Okay. Before we start, nobody's on the line here yet. What I'm about to propose to you happens to be both highly lucrative and highly dangerous. If that doesn't sound like your particular brand of vodka, help yourself to as much food as you like and safe journey. No hard feelings. Otherwise, come with me" Danny motioned.

Everyone began to file into the living room, where many infamous plans had become into being. I turned around and saw Linus was still sitting where he had been sitting before. Only this time he looked conflicted.

"Where are you going?" Turk asked concerned as I headed back out the sliding doors.

"This is just gonna take a minute" I replied as I slipped out onto the patio.

"You coming or not?" I asked bluntly.

"I think I'm gonna stay out here a while. You know soak up the air and everything." Linus lied.

"You do know there is air in there right?" I joked.

"Yeah, it's just… uh…" Linus tried.

"Your nervous?" I suggested.

"You could say that" Linus admitted.

"This is the time where I give some big empowering speech right? I'm supposed to tell you how being a thief is some gratifying achievement and that you should be proud of it. I'm supposed to tell you that your gonna be in history books or something like that. Which is wrong cause if you are you got caught, which means you aren't cut out for this job…anyway, I can't tell you those things because they aren't true and I hate liars. But I can tell you that I don't regret the day I became a thief. Because quite frankly I have a knack for this crap" I said gesturing around me.

"And you do too or you wouldn't be here. There are a ton of people we could have picked, but we chose the best."

"Plus, There not gonna let you do much anyway till you prove yourself. The most you'll be doing is keeping Turk and Virgil company. Believe me they'll love you. They haven't had company for an heist since 1987 when they babysat me. We don't let newbie's anywhere near the action unless we need to. Were not gonna let this whole heist depend on a newbie!" I joked as I got off the bench.

"Your life will be defined by this moment, whether you like it or not. When you look back on this moment your going to want to know you made the right choice. You came this far. You sat around here at a creeper's house for…"

"5 hours"

"Really?"

"Yeah"

"Is that all for nothing? I can't tell you what to do, but were gonna start soon and if you don't come in the house your gonna be left in the dust." I said walking away.

As I walked back into the house Reuben walked out. I don't know what else he told him that got him motivated, but Linus was in the house. It was probably along the lines of "Get in the goddamn room!"

"Are we good Abigail?" Danny asked as I sat down.

"We are good!" I replied.

"Gentlemen…"

"Ahem!" I coughed.

"And lady" Danny finished. I nodded for him to go on.

"the 14000 block of Las Vegas Boulevard. Otherwise known as the Bellagio, the Mirage, the M.G.M. Grand. Together, they're the three most profitable casinos in Las Vegas…the Bellagio vault. Located below the Strip, beneath two hundred feet of solid earth. It safeguards every dime that comes through each of the three casinos above it"

"And we're going to rob it" I announced proudly.

The room filled with gasps. "Smash-and-grab job, huh?" Linus offered.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Rusty smiled.

Danny picked up a remote control and started a slideshow.

"Okay. Bad news first. This place houses a security system which rivals most nuclear missile silos. First, we have to get within the casino cages"

"here, here, and here" Rusty indicated on the model.

"Which if you ask Abigail she can assure you it takes more than a smile." Everyone chuckled.

"Next, through these doors, each of which requires a different six-digit code changed every twelve hours. Past those lies the elevator, and this is where it gets tricky, the elevator won't move without authorized fingerprint identifications."

"which we could fake, but…" I explained.

"We need vocal confirmations from both the security center within the Bellagio and the vault below

"which even Abby's magic probably won't be able to get us"

"Furthermore, the elevator shaft is rigged with motion detectors"

"Meaning if we manually override the lift, the shaft's exit will lock down automatically and we'll be trapped."

"Once we've gotten down the shaft, though, then it's a walk in the park" Danny assured us.

"Just three more guards with Uzis and predilections toward not being robbed, and the most elaborate vault door conceived by man," I finished.

"Pretty much, Any questions?" Danny agreed. The room went silent. Yen spoke first. He spoke in his native language which no one understood a lick of except Rusty.

"No. Tunneling is out. There are Richter scales monitoring the ground for one hundred yards in every direction. If a groundhog tried to nest there, they'd know about it. Anyone else?" Rusty answered.

Everyone sat there dumbfounded.

"You said something about good news…" Turk brought up and I knew that he was hoping that it would somehow outweigh the bad. Which, normally never happens…

Danny smiled. "The Nevada Gaming Commission stipulates: a casino must hold in reserve enough cash to cover every chip at play on its floor. As I mentioned, this vault services each of the three casinos above it. That means: during the week, by law, it must hold anywhere from sixty to seventy million dollars in cash and coin. On a weekend, between eighty and ninety million. On a fight night, like the one two weeks from tonight, the night we're going to rob it, at least a hundred and fifty million. Without breaking a sweat."

"Now there are eleven of us if you don't count Abby," Rusty said.

"Hey!" I cried.

"Okay, make that twelve of us. Each with an equal share. You do the math," Rusty winked at me.

We all began to do that math in our heads, except for Virgil who did it on his fingers. He whistled. Everyone was impressed by their share.

"I have a question," Saul said raising his hand.

"Say we do get into the cage, and through the security doors there, and down the elevator we can't move, and past the guards with guns, and into the vault we can't open…" Saul continued. I stifled a laugh. It sounded like a joke some drunk had come up with at a bar and his drinking buddies laughed at.

"Without being seen by the cameras," Rusty added.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I forgot to mention that," Danny winced. The room erupted in chorus's of "This is impossible!" and objections.

"Say we do all that. We're just supposed to walk outta there with a hundred million dollars in cash on us without getting stopped?" Saul pointed out.

"Yeah," Danny said flashing us his vibrant grin I hadn't seen since the time they took him away.

Saul sighed and took out a Rolaid. "Your ulcer flaring up?" I whispered.

"No, it's the pain in my ass" Saul said sarcastically.

"Alright. Here's how we'll begin," Danny started, and watching him, I believed what I told Linus. I don't regret the day I became a thief.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: I hope you guys like this chapter! It's not my best…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Ocean's 11 or Ghost Rider…**

Danny pulled up to the house and stopped the car abruptly making the car squeak. That's when I knew he was in trouble. The only time he did that was when he was running from someone. I ran to the door and opened it for him. He hurried into the kitchen like nothing was wrong. I followed him.

"Do you wanna tell me what this is about or are you just gonna keep me in the dark like usual?" I asked as I watched him gulp down a glass of water. He was breathing heavily as he set down his glass, and leaned up against the counter.

"Your mother's been cheating on me," he said solemnly as he went to fill up his glass again. I grabbed the pitcher before he got even close.

"What?" I cried in shock.

"I know, that's why were going away. Go pack your stuff," Danny said gesturing towards the stairs.

"But… but I don't understand" I fumbled.

"Okay, I know this is a shock Abigail but you have to listen to me…"

"It's all starting to make sense," I whispered.

"I did something when I found out. The police are going to be coming after me very soon. So I need you to go upstairs and get your warmest clothes and anything else you need, as quickly as possible."

I nodded still in shock and ran up the stairs. It wasn't long before police sirens were heard resounding through the street. That was a sound I had been accustomed to, but never had I heard them so close before.

"Danny!" I yelled, racing down the stairs.

"I know, I know!" Danny yelled as he grabbed my hand and we raced out to his car.

"Buckle up!" Danny yelled over the sound of the sirens.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" I yelled back. Danny was known for being a crazy driver and my body parts have almost been spewed all over the road many times before.

Danny did a quick three point turn making the breaks squeak and we were on out way. Before I knew it we were speeding down the highway.

"You think were gonna make it?" I asked cringing.

"Not a chance," Danny smiled.

"Oh, okay," I said nodding. But then it hit me what he had said. "Wait, what? Were not gonna have some Thelma and Louise thing right? Cause, I don't care how drastic a thing you did there is no way we are speeding over a cliff!"

"No, were just outrunning the police for as long as possible," Danny laughed.

"So, what did you do anyway?"

"That's not important. What's important is that they are going to add kidnapping and resisting arrest along with other charges. So I'm not gonna be around for a while…"

"What do you mean kidnapping?" I yelled.

"Isn't this what this is considered?"

"Uh, no this is taking your daughter on a road trip away from the police," I replied.

"Well, the police won't see it that way," Danny sighed.

"So, while I'm gone I want you to take care of your mother," Danny started.

"I think she already found someone else to do that," I muttered.

"Hey, I don't want to hear that talk! He may be a good guy, you don't know what he's like!"

"What does he do?"

"He's the owner of some big casinos in Vegas," Danny admitted.

"I rest my case," I muttered. "Those guys are only cheep skates with enough money to burn."

"I agree, but I want you to show him respect and be nice to him. Remember he has the power to send you away to a boarding school," Danny warned.

"Yeah, and I have the power to choose what nursing home he gets apparently." I muttered. Danny and me high fived.

"I'll never forgive her," I whispered.

"I don't want to hear that talk! Your mother loves you and if she made this decision maybe it is for the best," Danny admitted.

"That's a load of crap, and you know it!" Suddenly, the sound of sirens lit up behind us. Danny began to pull over.

"What? No, Danny! I don't want to live with them! I want my real father! We can head to Mexico and never look back!" I screamed as I grabbed the wheel.

"What do you think your doing? You know we could never make it!" Danny yelled grabbing the wheel back.

"But…but" I cried, the tears falling down my cheeks.

"It'll be okay, darling. I'll always come back for you. My parole will be up within a few months…" his voice seemed farther and farther away.

"Abby? If you don't get up Rusty's gonna eat your pancakes," Danny called. I rubbed my eyes. It was a dream. But it was more than that. It was a memory.

"Rusty, if you eat my pancakes, I swear…" I yelled.

"I know, I know!" Rusty yelled back.

I got out of the hotel bed and into one of the adjoined rooms Reuben had rented for us last night. I had insisted to him that he didn't need to rent out the whole floor, and had pointed out the fact that Rusty doesn't know how to sleep in a bed. He always ends up falling out of bed and onto the floor anyway. But, Reuben pointed out that I would probably want to get away from them at some point, and that if he rented the whole floor I would plenty of rooms to choose from. He was right. I grabbed a plate and 5 pancakes and sat down amongst the chaos that was the hotel room.

"Is someone gonna clean up this mess?" I questioned before I took a sip of orange juice.

"That's negative ghost rider," Rusty joked. I rolled my eyes as I took another sip.

"That explains why my memories of the plan are mixed with scenes about a talking spy car. We watched Ghost Rider last night didn't we?" I groaned massaging my head muscles.

"That's affirmative ghost rider!" Danny replied as he wielded the spatula onto my plate, adding another 5 pancakes.

"When your done, get dressed, we have some errands to run," Danny told everyone.

"Remind me why I like being a thief again?" I groaned. I hated errands.

"Because you love me!" Rusty replied leaning in close to me from across the table. I gave him a disgusted look. I didn't notice that Linus and Turk were giving Rusty dirty looks.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's note: Sorry to keep you guys waiting! This chapter has more action and suspense to it, enhancing the story line. I hope you guys like it! Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with Ocean's Eleven.

Somehow my Saturday ended up consisting of dealing with Livingston's stuttering problem and flirting with an in-house technician. The second part wouldn't have been so bad if he was good looking and wasn't balding. But what in-house technicians aren't? No offense to in-house technicians of course.

Jim was the usual run of the mill guy that thinks he's different than everyone else, but he really isn't. Within 10 minutes of talking, he invited me to a party at the Bellagio casino. Which was what thieves like us called "the opportune moment!"

I would flirt with him, while the other's scouted out the casino. Looking for easy and accessible exits(which are harder than you'd think to find), block one of the cameras, get access to a key card, get access to the surveillance footage, plug into the surveillance footage, make a replica of the vault, and get access codes from Benedict.

"Tequila?" I asked gesturing toward his drink of choice at bar. Jim smiled.

"Yeah, I didn't know what you normally drink so I figured this was as good a bet as any?" he laughed.

"I'm actually a whiskey person myself," I said petting his arm. His eyes popped out a little. I turned around to see Rusty nod and raise his glass to me.

"So tell me a little bit more about yourself," he said as he took as sip.

"Uh, well let's see. I enjoy long romantic walks to my fridge…" I paused. He didn't laugh. "I love action movies. I secretly always wanted to be a lawyer. I hate onions. And well that's about it…" I admitted. He nodded and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"You know the moment I saw you I knew I liked you," he whispered. "You were so beautiful in that pink dress… But, you weren't happy… I could make you happy."

"Wait, what?" I asked pulling my hand away.

"At your mother's wedding? Don't you remember?"

"But… that was 3 years ago…" I said starting to get a little spooked.

"Yes, it was your mother's second marriage wasn't it? To the guy that owns this casino in fact? Correct?" he said grabbing my hand back.

"Your hurting me," I told him, as pain shot up my arm.

"Am I? Benedict will do anything for you wouldn't he? Even pay your ransom?" he asked as he kissed my hand. I looked calm on the outside, but inside I was trembling.

"Let's go," he said as he pulled me up. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was seeing what was happening. Rusty was flirting with a waitress, Turk and Virgil were no where to be seen, and the same went with Danny.

"You know I'm just not into the whole kidnapping thing. Maybe another time," I laughed nervously as I tried to turn away. But he was stronger than me. He pulled me into an abandoned hallway as I struggled to get out of his arms.

"Let her go!" I heard the voice loud and clear, through the dark. A light flickered on as Linus stood there.

"You feeling lucky, boy?" Jim asked as he pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at Linus. Linus's hands immediately went up.

"Hey, I just want the girl okay. I'll give you whatever you want to compensate your loss," Linus said clearly.

"You don't understand do you?" he laughed as he put the gun to my head. I grimaced. I hadn't felt the end of a gun on my head for a long time.

"No, I think I do," Linus smiled as someone grabbed Jim from behind, sending the gun sprawling across the floor. I wiggled out of his grasp and turned to see Rusty with a tazor and Jim out cold on the floor.

I was shaking as my legs gave out. Linus and Rusty reached for me as I fell to the floor in shock.

"It's okay, Abby. It's okay," Rusty said as he held me. "It was a set-up okay. That's all, it's fine." I looked over his shoulder at Linus and closed my eyes.

"I hate set-ups," I laughed meekly.

"I know. By the way, it true about the lawyer thing?" Rusty laughed as he let me go.

"You actually think I'd want to be in a courtroom? I was born to break the law, not uphold it!" I replied.

"Well, one good thing came out of this," Linus said as he reached into Jim's pockets and pulled out the key card.

"Well, I guess it's good to know my almost kidnapping and death haven't been for nothing," I agreed.

LATER

"Guys, seriously I'm fine," I said rolling my eyes.

"You just had a gun to your head! You are not fine!" Danny yelled.

"We should be worrying about the fact we were set up and he made me! Not the fact that I had a gun to my head!" I pointed out.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Linus asked. I turned around looking confused. Everyone turned to him, wondering what insight he could possibly have on it.

"Benedict suspects something. Who else would have a reason to play with us?" Linus said like it was obvious.

"He never did like me," I admitted. "I think the whole idea that Danny was a thief didn't settle well with him."


	12. Chapter 12

Author's note: Sorry, I haven't updated for a while. Someone asked for a description of Abby and I promise I will put that in the next chapter for you! I hope you like this!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Ocean's 11.

"Pass the salt would ya?" I asked Danny. We were sitting at Saul's long table in his kitchen. Supposed world leaders, kings, queens, presidents, and more often than not drug dealers had sat at that table. But, right now the only two people sitting at the table were us and neither one of us was talking. Danny was still mad about the whole hostage/gun to the head thing.

"You just had a gun to your head and that's what you say?" Danny asked slowly.

"Yeah, I need salt Danny! I can't eat corn on the cob without salt! Plus, look on the bright side, Danny. He didn't pull the trigger!" I pointed out, knowing he didn't have a problem passing the salt even though it was closer to me than him.

"There's always a bright side isn't there?" Danny said annoyed.

"Come on, Danny. It's not like it hasn't happened before! The Monroe job, the SanDiego Muesem, the Rainport hotel!" I listed.

"What about the Rainport hotel?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you about the one did I?" I grimaced. "I mean that one wasn't that bad, just some drunk guy decided to rob the hotel cause he though it was a bank; not that I blame him, they are kind of similar; on the same day."

"And how did that end up with a gun to your head?"

"I was his first hostage."

"Great, I just love it when you don't tell me these things!" Danny said hitting his fist against the table making me jump.

"It ended up fine! Rusty worked it out that we could do the heist the next week and it went on without a hitch!" I assured him, though I knew he wasn't worried about how the heist went.

"I think you should be off the heist," Danny blurted out.

"What?" I cried in shock. He couldn't do this to me!

"Your too close to it! It's too personal. I knew I shouldn't have brought you into this."

"Wake up and smell the roses Danny! I was in this from the moment you pulled into the driveway that day and told me my mother was cheating on you! My first thought when you entered that poker room was 'Yes! Now I will get some justice for what happened!' You don't know how hard it was to stand by and live with that bastard as he ruined our family! I did it for you, Danny! I did it for our family! I did it waiting for the day you would walking into that poker room, ready to be a family again!" I screamed as I kicked my chair over. My breathing was heavy as Danny stared at me from across the table.

"Don't take this away from me," I whispered across the table.

"No one would ever want to with the tantrums you pull," Danny laughed. I smiled.

MORE ERRANDS

Ask any good thief and they'll tell you most of being a thief involves 98% skill and 2% errands. The 98% skill comes in handy when your actually doing the job and something goes wrong. Otherwise your not always required to have that.

Believe me, most thieves you heard of have lacked the common sense and intelligence the 2% of errands need. But don't underestimate them. They are most likely very good in the skill level. The problem is so are the FBI and the police.

Being a thief can get pricy. Why do you think we do it so much? Mostly boredom, but being broke adds into it too. Buying properties and then building an exact replica of some part of the building is very pricy. But is basically an essential to almost every job. If you don't want to get caught that is.

Sometimes it's not needed, but it's best to have one anyway in case someone ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and you need to swap out footage… Also it's fun to freak people out. Which was going to be somewhat our goal. I know this seems really cool and amazing, but honestly it's pretty dull like most building projects.

"Sleeping on the job, Abby? Remember what happened on the Monroe job?" Rusty teased, his shadow falling over me.

"Your blocking my sun. I had a gun to my head yesterday I believe I deserve to sleep when I want to!" I groaned.

"So your gonna play that card are you?" Rusty asked as he sat down beside me.

"As long as Danny lets me play it," I admitted as I sat up.

"And how long are you planning on that?" Rusty joked.

"About a month or so," I admitted, as a round of hammering shot up. I turned to see Danny with a hammer beating a nail into a board. I called him and watched as he picked up his phone.

"Yello?" Danny said.

"Hey this is your daughter, can you cool down on the hammering! It's giving me a headache!" I yelled into the phone. I heard a click.

"Did he just hang up on me?" I cried looking at my phone in shock.

"No, I think he lost service," Rusty assured me trying to stifle his laughter.

"He hung up on me! I hate building sites!" I yelled.

"Well, you can always go with the twins and Frank to get the getaway car,"

"Heh, very funny Rusty!" I coughed.

AT THE CAR DEALERSHIP

"Guys, seriously I think you tested the durability! We know this van can handle an earthquake!" I yelled as the van rocked up and down, from the brothers shaking the van.

I knew I should have got out of the van and gone in with Frank when they said the words test and durability. Those 2 words in the same sentence never end well. So now I was hanging onto the seats and screaming for dear life as a man made earthquake occurred.

LATER

"So, how was the car dealership?" Rusty asked as I walked into the now build building. My hair was a mess and my eyes were bloodshot.

"Don't act like you don't know," I replied. Rusty laughed. "You asked for it when you were bored,"

"Yeah, well now I know never to be bored again or I will go through an earthquake! Someone really needs to tell them we do not need to test the van for severe weather conditions! It's not likely we'll meet an earthquake during a heist in Las Vegas!"

"You know Danny's been looking all over for you. He says he needs you, Linus, and me to pay a visit to Benedict,"

"Of course he does…" I groaned.

LATER

"Abby, your job is to introduce Linus to Benedict. You know the guy, make sure he meets Linus but forgets him long enough for Linus to switch the codes. Linus, learn to love his shadow, cause you'll be in it for a while, he may not let go of those codes easily. Any questions?"

"Wait, wait, wait. All I get to do is watch him?"

"For now. You gotta walk before you crawl,"

"Reverse that," I reassured Linus. He nodded.

End note: I hope you liked it!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: I hope you like this chapter! It shows there might be something between Abby and Rusty!**

"Okay, let's talk about Benedict. What have you gathered?" I asked. We were at the bottom of the grand staircase at the Bellagio casino.

"The guy is a machine," Linus started. I rolled my eyes.

"I know. Way too uptight, what else?" I asked.

"He arrives at the Bellagio every day at two p.m. Same Town Car, same driver. Remembers every valet's name on the way in. Not bad for a guy worth three-quarters of a billion. He spends three minutes on the floor with his casino manager," Linus replied.

"What do they talk about?" Rusty asked as he took a bite of a McDonalds hamburger.

"All business. Benedict likes to know what's going on in his casinos. There's rarely an incident he doesn't know about or handle personally. He spends a few minutes glad-handing the high rollers. He's fluent in Spanish, German and Italian, and he's taking Japanese lessons, getting pretty good at it. He's out by seven-thirty, when an assistant hands him a black portfolio. Contents: the day's take and new security codes."

"Wow, for a rookie, that was pretty good. You sure you don't want to become an FBI agent?" I joked, elbowing him.

"I don't think my father would be too proud of me," Linus admitted.

"True, your father was never too fond of FBI agents," I agreed.

"So, where is he now?" Rusty asked.

"His father or Benedict?" I asked confused. "Benedict," Rusty answered.

"Well, he should be heading to the restaurant…" Linus stuttered as he started to look their his research papers furiously. We were right in front of the restaurant in the casino and Benedict had not entered yet.

"Give him another ten seconds," Linus said finding the page in his research. We waited. Benedict rounded the corner carrying the black portfolio.

"As I said: a machine," Linus said proving his point.

"And that portfolio contains the codes to all the cage doors?" Rusty asked skeptical.

"Two minutes after they've been changed, he's got 'em in hand. I'll tell you: you guys picked a hell of a target. He is as smart and ruthless as they come. The last guy caught cheating here, Benedict not only sent him up for ten years, he got the bank to seize the guy's home and bankrupted -

"his brother-in-law's tractor dealership," Rusty and me said in unison.

"He doesn't just go after your knees, he goes after your livelihood. And everyone-you-ever-met's livelihood," Linus added.

"That's just a rumor," I assured him.

"Tell that to the guy he caught cheating," Rusty retorted.

"Don't listen to him," I assured Linus, as I rolled my eyes. Linus looked more nervous than usual. And he should have been we were going into the lions den after all. A lion that had about 200 hundred guards and ex-policemen employed by him to make sure nobody like us got what we wanted.

"You scared?" I asked, breaking the long awkward silence that had fallen on us.

"Are you suicidal?" Linus retorted.

"Only in the morning!" Rusty said for me.

"Hey!" I cried annoyed. "But he's right. Only in the morning," I admitted. The room went quiet again.

"So, now what?" I asked.

"Now comes the girl... if she comes in after he does, that means they're in an argument."

"Hmm, I never thought of that, but he's right," I said to Rusty.

"Where does she come from?" Rusty asked.

"The museum downstairs. She's the curator there. Wait... here she is," Linus said as he face turned to one of awe. I looked up and saw my mother. She was dressed elegantly as she descended the stairs. Her look turned to one of surprise when she saw me.

"I don't know if we can use her yet. I haven't even caught her name…"

"Wait! What?" I yelled as I was pulled into a big hug.

"How are you darling? I haven't heard from you in ages! You must eat dinner with us!" my mother cried as she continued to hug me.

"Mom, you know I don't like hugs," I grimaced as I tried to pry her hands off me.

"Of course you don't. You've always been your father's daughter!" she laughed as she stroked my hair. "And of course I know Rusty!" she laughed as she gave him a hug. "But who is this?" she asked gesturing toward Linus.

"Uh, yeah mom this is my boyfriend Linus," I said as if I were saying we were out of milk. Linus's head shot up in surprise. His mouth formed a perfect o, as he looked at me questionly. "Go along with it," I mouthed. Rusty was just as shocked as Linus.

"Well, then he must be a saint!" she laughed she shook his hand.

"It's an honor to meet you. Abby has told me so much about you," Linus smiled. I shook my head in warning.

"Oh, really?" she looked back at me in surprise. "If that's true then you must be very close."

"You have no idea, Mrs.…"

"Tess, call me Tess," she replied.

"Well, all of you must join us for lunch! And I absolutely must know everything about you and Abby!" Tess gushed as she followed after Benedict to tell him that they needed 3 extra seats.

"That's for crushing on my mom," I said punching Linus hard. His face became one of pain.

"I was not crushing on your mom," Linus pointed out.

"You totally were," Rusty and me said in unison.

"If your so mad then why am I posing as your boyfriend?" Linus asked.

"Cause if I said Rusty was my boyfriend then we would have a whole big conversation of 'I told you so!"

"Her mom has been trying to get us together for years," Rusty agreed.

"Think of it as undercover work," I helped. "But, if you mess up or say something I don't like. I'll kill you. I don't let rookies pose as my boyfriends, but I have to make an exception for you. So you better not blow it!" I continued.

"Were ready!" Tess called.

"Great!" we said in unison as we followed her through the restaurant.

IN THE RESTURANT

"Benedict, this is Abby's boyfriend," Tess said.

"Rusty?" Benedict asked in disgust.

"No, Linus," I replied.

"hmm…" he replied as he took a sip of coffee, not really caring what his name was. Then came the awkward silence.

"So, how did you two meet?"

"Well, it's a long story…" I started.

"No, it's not that long Buttercup," Linus but in. I kicked him, digging my heels into his feet. "Buttercup?" I mouthed. Linus shrugged.

"Oh, please do tell us," Tess's eyes begged.

"You see I had just broken up with my girlfriend of 2 years. So, I was at a terribly depressing time in my life. I went to see the movie Titanic alone. There were no seats in the theater other than the one beside your daughter. So I took the seat and we started up a conversation. By the end of the movie I knew this was the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with," Linus finished. I looked over at Rusty and found him looking over at me. I smiled as I looked away, remembering a good memory.

"Aww, that's so sweet. Isn't that sweet Benedict darling?" Tess cried elbowing Benedict who obviously wasn't paying attention. I took a sip of wine, knowing I may need it.

"Yes, of course Abigail. You certainly found a good guy," Benedict offered. "not like your father," he muttered so I could hear. I clenched my fist and looked over at Rusty. He nodded.

"Well, I gotta…" Rusty said getting up and knocking over a couple drinks at our table. Creating chaos. Everyone ran to get napkins and stop the mess from spreading that no one realized when Linus switched out the codes.

"Rusty's right we gotta go. Linus promised me we would hit every casino here and we've only been to a couple." I said, getting up from the table.

"Are you sure darling? We have so much more to catch up on!" Tess protested.

"I'm sure we'll meet again during our stay here," I assured her.

"Well, if you must go…" she sighed.

"We really do," I cut in. We left the room and headed outside having accomplished our mission.

OUTSIDE

I gave Linus a hard punch. "What was that for?" Linus cried, rubbing his injured shoulder.

"That was for the Titanic story! If Tess knew me better, she wouldn't believe it. But we only got lucky cause she hasn't seen me in 2 years. You got to be careful with undercover work Linus. If a person knows too much, then they can spot a lie easily. We got lucky this time," I warned.

"What's wrong with the Titanic?"

"Nothing!" I yelled as I headed to the car.

"What's wrong with her?" Linus asked Rusty confused. Rusty shrugged.

"That was the first movie we saw together when we were a couple," Rusty sighed as if it was no big deal.

"But your not…" Linus started.

"No, not anymore," Rusty laughed. "That would be crazy!" Rusty laughed even harder as he looked away.

"You guys coming or are you gonna hitchhike?" I called out the window as I pulled up in Rusty's car.

"You are not driving my car!" Rusty cried.

"We'll see!" I screamed with glee as I revved up the engine.

"You are not driving my car!" Rusty insisted again as he ran after the car. I laughed. I eventually let Rusty and Linus in the car after a mile or so. But I gotta admit it was really funny seeing them running down the highway…


	14. Chapter 14

Author's note: Hey, this took me a while to finish, because I wanted the chemistry and everything to be just right. I hope you like it! Someone asked about a description of Abby. She has brown curly hair, green eyes, and a skinny figure. I hope that's enough for a description, but I can do more if you want more.

Disclaimer: I do not down anything to do with the movie The Titanic, He's just not that into you, and A Walk to remember. Nor anything to do with Ocean's 11. I only took things from those movies to accentuate the plot.

Rusty was right. The Titanic was our first date. Only, it didn't start out as a date. And it certainly wasn't planned. But all the best relationships aren't.

"Were out of ice cream so if that's what your looking for…" I called over my shoulder.

"What are doing here?" Rusty asked surprised. He hadn't thought anyone was home.

"I could ask you the same thing," I replied as I took another piece of popcorn from the bowl beside me.

"Your never at home on a Saturday night," Rusty stated, confused.

"And your never at my home on a Saturday night, so either all the girls in the world died and I'm the only one left… or you know what there is no other possibility. Now the whole world is going to fight over me. Wonderful!" I cried sarcastically raising my hands into the air.

"How did you know it was me? I could have been a drug dealer or a rapist."

"The last time the drug dealers were over it was because they thought this was your house, and no rapist or murder would ever want to mess with me."

"Okay, so why are you here on a Saturday night?" Rusty asked accepting my answer.

"I got stood up," I shrugged, as I popped another kernel of popcorn into my mouth.

"Really? That explains all the popcorn, the reason there is no ice cream in the freezer, you will have probably gained 10 pounds by morning, and your watching…"

"He's just not that into you," I finished.

"Wow, that's a mouthful of a movie title" Rusty joked.

"Don't make me laugh when I'm upset! I actually waited for him thinking 'maybe his grandma died or maybe he got stuck in traffic, maybe a gang of thugs beat him and now he's lying in a ditch somewhere, maybe he got hit by a truck-" I cried frustrated.

"Or maybe he is not interested in seeing you again?" Rusty offered.

"Your so cruel!" I cried hitting him with a pillow.

"What were you gonna do tonight?" Rusty asked after a long silence of just Scarlet Johansson and Bradley Cooper's argument in the background.

"For what?" I asked totally engrossed in the movie.

"For your date," Rusty persisted.

"We were going to see the Titanic, but there is no way I was going to see it alone. All those couples kissing and everything, I mean it's the worst place for a heartbroken girl!" I shrugged, not paying attention.

"Okay, get up were going," Rusty said getting up from his chair, and grabbing his coat.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I'm not going to let you stay home and feel sorry for yourself. Your better than that? You're practically an expert in stealing things for God's sake!" Rusty explained his reasoning as he zipped up his coat.

"That reminds me," I said pulling his wallet out of my pocket. "I snatched it when you were talking just now," I admitted.

"Come on, as friends?" Rusty asked, pocketing his wallet.

"Were barely that," I said rolling my eyes.

"Which is why this isn't going to mean anything. You want to go, and I have nothing else to do," Rusty admitted.

"But I have something to do," I replied pointedly.

"Really?" Rusty asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I have to finish my popcorn…" I admitted, trying to think of anything else, and coming up with nothing. Rusty smiled back at me. "I'll get my coat," I rolled my eyes.

"Under one condition," I warned as I put my sleeves into my coat.

"Just promise me you won't fall in love with me,"

"Where did you steal that from?"

"A Walk to remember."

"Well, I can assure you there is no way I am going to fall in love with you from one movie."

AT THE MOVIES

"Teach me to ride like a man," I laughed as we exited the theater.

"And chew tobacco like a man!" Rusty replied in a southern accent.

"And spit like a man!" I cried mimicking his southern accent.

"What, they didn't teach you that in finishing school?" Rusty asked, playfully. We both laughed. Rusty put his arm around my shoulders.

"You know I had a good time. I never knew you were this…"

"Wonderful, beautiful, spontaneous?"

"Any of them would work, I didn't think you would fight the popcorn lady for that long."

"You should see me fight at fancy restaurants over how much I'm paying. I've never paid the full amount on the bill," I laughed.

I absentmindedly looked down and realized something. Something that changed everything. We were holding hands. I looked into his eyes and saw the one thing I had hoped not to see.

"What?" Rusty laughed. I pulled my hand away.

"What are we doing Rusty?" I asked, serious. We stood on the sidewalk outside of the movie theater. A moments silence passed over us.

"Were taking a chance," Rusty said bluntly, catching me off guard.

"Wha-" I asked, but didn't have a chance to finish as his mouth met mine. We kissed and it seemed like the world stopped. I pushed him away in shock.

"Abby… listen to me okay," Rusty pleaded. I shook my head. This was not what I had wanted. I turned and ran into the parking lot, into the rain.

"I love you," Rusty insisted following me into the rain. I turned around.

"No, you don't" I replied throwing my hands into the air. "Yes, I do."

"Really what makes you so sure? One movie? One date?" I cried.

"Because if this isn't love, Then love doesn't exist!" Rusty yelled.

"That's a line from a movie Rusty!" I shot back, annoyed.

"Abby, the man of your dreams could be standing right in front of you and you won't acknowledge him. You won't acknowledge you may have known him your whole life! Your scared, and frankly so am I!"

"Are you high?" I laughed. "No seriously? Cause honestly, I think your out of it. I'm not a perfect girl! I am a thief for a living for heavens sake, which just happens to be the same sorry life that you have! You're a player! How many girls have I seen you with?"

"I know Abby! I know!" Rusty protested.

"You know? Cause I don't think you do! Did you ever think of what might happen? Were working a heist, someone gets greedy decides to take whatever the crap were stealing for themselves. It happens all the time. They grab me and put a gun to your head. They say 'it's the crap were stealing or the girl, what are you gonna say?"

"You, it will always be you." Rusty whispered, moving in until our faces were inches apart.

"This is crazy," I laughed, shaking my head.

"All the best relationships are" Rusty said pulling me for a kiss. A kiss in the rain.

IN THE PRESENT

"Tell me this isn't about her. Or I'll walk off the job right now. Tess. She's with Terry Benedict now. Tell me this isn't about screwing the guy who's screwing your wife!"

"Calm down Rusty!" I yelled.

"Ex-wife," Danny corrected.

"Tell me," Rusty demanded.

"It's not. About that. Entirely," Danny admitted. "You said you needed a reason. Well, this is mine. When we started in this business, we had three rules.

"We weren't gonna hurt anybody. We weren't gonna steal from anybody didn't have it coming. And we were gonna play the game like we had nothing to lose," Rusty and me said in unison.

"Well, I lost something. Someone. That's why I'm here," Danny finished.

"Here's the problem: we're stealing two things now. And when push comes to shove, if you can't have both, which are you gonna choose? And remember: Tess doesn't divide eleven ways,"

"Neither would I," I said softly. Rusty looked up from their staged argument puzzled. He knew my meaning.

"If things go to plan, I won't be the one who has to make that choice." Danny replied. "How'd she look by the way?"

"I've seen her happier," Rusty shrugged, as he looked at me out of the corner of his eye.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's note: I don't like this chapter that much. But I don't see how I could edit it to be any better so… Sorry it took so long! I will be updating again regularly I promise! Spoiler Alert: There will be a Linus and Abby scene in here…

This wasn't what I wanted you know," Rusty sighed, running his fingers through his hair. It was his nervous habit. One I had grown to love over the years, but I wasn't looking at him now.

"You didn't think we would have so much in common did you? You just thought maybe we would go on a couple dates, and forget each other. You'd get the info you needed to perform your heist and that would be it," I said softly, in disbelief. "It was all a game."

"No, no Abby it wasn't!" Rusty persisted.

"Did you find it?" I asked. It took all my will to steady my voice.

"What?" Rusty asked confused.

"Did you at least find the information you needed?" I asked slowly. I didn't have to see his face to know the answer. He hadn't.

"You did all this. You paid for our dates, you bought me roses… All for nothing" I laughed softly. Tears were starting to roll down my cheeks.

"Abby, look I'm sorry…" Rusty pleaded. I saw the hurt in his eyes, but I knew it couldn't have been any worse than mine.

"Were through Rusty," I said, my voice strong and certain.

"What? Why?" Rusty cried.

"Your pretty dumb Rusty, but not that dumb. Have a great life Rusty. You deserve it as much as the next thief." I laughed through tears.

"So, were still friends?" Rusty asked after a long silence.

"Still friends," I agreed.

"We work better that way anyway? I mean could you see us with kids and house? How crazy would that be?" Rusty joked, finding common ground with the situation.

"Crazy" I agreed looking away.

END FLASHBACK

"Crazy," I whispered.

"What's crazy?" Linus asked. He sat down beside me.

"Oh, nothing. Just remembering something," I shrugged him off.

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Linus replied.

"Yeah, this job brings up memories. Things I thought I buried I've learned wasn't buried deep enough." I shrugged. Linus nodded and a moment of silence passed over us. All that was heard was the sound of the radio.

"Whitney Houston, Dance with somebody!" the announcer's voice rang out.

I looked over at Linus and laughed. "Come on you gotta dance with me!" I pulled him up off the floor.

"In an abandoned garage in the middle of nowhere?"

"Of course, where else?" I laughed.

"I'm not good at dancing," Linus resisted.

"Please, you made it through the 80's!" I joked. We danced so crazily. We laughed so hard we cried. And we danced. We sang. He twirled me around and dipped me at the end, making me laugh.

"You liar! You're a great dancer!" I laughed, punching him lightly. Apparently it wasn't as light a punch as I thought it was cause he doubled over.

"Sorry," I grimaced. "I've been around thieves for too long," I apologized. I headed to the main building that had been completed overnight.

IN THE MAIN BUILDING

"Was it at least a success?" Rusty sighed, running his fingers through his hair in distress.

"That depends on her. It could go either way. 50/50 shot," Danny shrugged as he top a sip of coffee, his face turning into one of bitter disgust. "Who made this coffee?"

"I did" I said walking in on Rusty's and Danny's conversation.

"And it tastes delightful!" Danny cried, his whole expression changing. He took a big gulp and tried to hide his disgust.

"It's okay. If my only problem in life is making a good cup of coffee, then I'm doing good." I sighed.

"So what was or wasn't a success?" Rusty and Danny shared a look.

"You know I'm gonna find out anyway. I always do. It's a wonder what you can learn from someone through high powered binoculars," I joked.

"I took a visit to Tess," Danny admitted.

"How bad?" I grimaced.

"Not as bad as I was expecting," Danny shrugged.

"Which means she tore him apart upon entry," Turk laughed.

"Did you meet Benedict?" I questioned knowing he probably had.

"Sadly," Danny shrugged.

"God, that guy is a-"I started.

"Jerk, I know. That's why were the lucky ones who will get to take him off his high horse and put him back where he belongs."


	16. Chapter 16

Author's note: Hope you guys like this one!

One of the greatest and never broken rules in the thief world is: Saturday day is yours. Do whatever you like with it. No good heists are performed on Saturday. Most are done on Sundays or a day of the week where the least amount of people are out. More people means more witnesses. The ones you hear of everyday are the exceptions to the rule of course. They got caught. The good ones don't. The only problem is when your robbing a casino that never closes and is busy every day of the week. But we still used the rule anyway, cause it was bad luck not to. And bad luck was something we did not need. If we needed luck, we needed the good kind. Another tradition held in high esteem in the thief world is you must have a run down of everything on Friday. You have to always make sure you and your crew are on the same page. It is quite tedious and boring, but has to be done.

"Call is at five-thirty. Makeup and costume. Saul's package arrives at seven-fifteen, and Linus grabs our codes for the day. All goes well there and we're a go. Seven- thirty Virgil and Turk deliver Yen and we're committed. From that point, we have thirty minutes to blow the power or he suffocates."

"Wouldn't wanna be him," I muttered under my breath to Turk. Turk gave a chuckle. Danny glared at me, but I flashed him an innocent smile.

"Once the electricity goes, all entry points to the vault and its elevator will automatically lock down for two minutes. That's when we make our move," Rusty gestured toward the room where Yen was currently enclosed in the replica vault. We were watching from a one way mirror.

"Okay, they've put you in the middle of the room, far from everything. You have to get from here to the door without touching the floor. What do you do?" Danny said over the PA system so that Yen could hear. "Any questions?" Danny turned to us. I raised my hand.

"Yes, Abigail?" Danny sighed.

"Are we taking bets here? Cause I seriously believe there is some money to be made in whether or not…" the gestured toward the replica vault. "Asian guy here makes the heist or breaks the heist," I finished unable to come up with his name.

Danny looked at me, then back at the vault. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad if we took bets…" Danny admitted. Everyone started talking at once then and handing me their bets.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute! What is this?" I asked Virgil.

"It's an I.O.U."

"No, this is a business card from The Bank of Philadelphia."

"Yeah, when I rob it next year you will get some earnings," Virgil explained.

"Okay, so I got 300 for Turk saying he'll short it, 400 for Reuben saying he'll over-jump it, 50 for Danny saying he'll make it, 100 for me saying he'll short it, an I.O.U. from Virgil," I gave Virgil a look. "Linus? Rusty? Livingston? You gonna get in on this or are you gonna miss all the fun?"

"I think it's morally wrong, I mean it's that guy's life…" Linus started.

"Okay, Rusty how about you?" I interrupted.

"I'm broke," Rusty admitted.

"Should have done away with that crummy hotel chain," I advised him. "Livingston? Reuben?"

"1,000 says he over-jumps it," Reuben said placing the bills in my hand. I smiled. "Livingston?" I asked.

"No, I'm on a diet."

"Uh, okay" I replied confused. "Okay, Danny tell him he can go ahead and do his thing now."

LATER

"He's like a little ninja! I am definitely going to call him Ninja from now on!" I laughed as I dealed out everyone's money.

"Hey, Abby you still owe me twenty bucks." Danny said.

I smiled mischievously as I pulled out a wad from my pocket. "I was kinda hoping you weren't gonna notice," I admitted. Suddenly, the door slammed behind us and we turned. There was Basher, head to toe in sewage.

"We're in deep shit."

LATER

"Okay, Abby I think your bloody done hosing me down!"

"Not yet!" I replied as I put the hose on full blast.

"She's just doing this for fun isn't she?" Linus asked Rusty.

"Oh, yeah" Rusty replied, his face beaming with pride.

"Shouldn't we stop her?" Linus worried.

"Why?" Rusty asked, confused, as he took a sip of coffee.

"Cause she's been hosing him off for 2 hours!" Linus replied.

"Yeah, your right she usually stops by now," Rusty admitted nonchalantly. Linus gave him a look. "We do a lot of business in the sewer," Rusty explained.

"Okay, Abby I think he's all hosed down now" Danny yelled.

LATER

"The damn demo crew didn't use a coaxial lynch to back the mainline! They bloody onioned the mainframe couplet!"

"You understand any of this?" Reuben muttered under his breath to Rusty.

"Not a clue," Rusty answered back.

"Blew the backup grid one by one! Like dominoes!" Basher continued.

"Basher, wait a minute! What happened?" Danny interrupted, just as confused as the rest of us.

"They did exactly what I planned to do. Only they did it by accident. Now they know their weakness. And they're fixing it."

"So…" I asked hoping it wasn't what I thought he meant.

"So unless we decide to do this job in Reno, we're screwed."


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's note: I really think you guys are gonna like this chapter! I absolutely love it! Let me know what you think!**

"We could-" Rusty paced back and force.

"By tomorrow?" Danny and me cried in unison.

"We could use a pinch"

Rusty stopped and Danny looked up, hopeful.

"What's a pinch?" I asked, putting to words what everyone was thinking.

"Scientists demonstrate the pinch, a lithium wire in a glass vacuum tube the size of a small refrigerator. A pinch is the equivalent of a cardiac arrest for any broad-band electrical circuitry. Or better yet: A pinch is a bomb... but without the bomb. Every time a nuclear weapon detonates, it unleashes an electromagnetic pulse which shuts down any power source within its vicinity. That tends not to matter in most cases because the nuclear weapon destroys everything you might need power for anyway. Now a pinch creates a similar electromagnetic pulse, but without the headache of mass destruction and death. So instead of Hiroshima-"

"You get the Seventeenth Century," I finished, in awe. "Basher, did I ever tell you you're my favorite arsonist," I cried, hugging him.

"Don't bloody hug me yet, there's a small catch mates." I stopped hugging him.

"How big is this…catch?" I asked cautiously. I hated catches.

"The only pinch in the world big enough to take out Las Vegas is two hundred and twenty miles away in Pasadena," Basher admitted.

"Guess were gonna have to break that rule about tomorrow, guys," Danny sighed.

"Not like we needed luck anyway. I mean were the best thieves in the world. Can you imagine all the brain power in this room?" Rusty tried cheering everyone up.

"Yeah, we all could have been brain surgeons and astronauts" I said sarcastically.

"Maybe…" Rusty replied.

"Are you high?" I cried.

IN THE CAR

"So, how's everyone?" Danny asked cheerfully.

"It's five o'clock in the morning and were in a car that smells like weed, heading away from Vegas to pick up a bomb that is not a bomb from some nuclear plant. So, other than all that I'm pretty good," I said sarcastically.

"Oooo, your optimism is earth shattering," Rusty replied, his voice dripping with as much sarcasm as mine had been.

"Since were near Virginia why don't we drop by Fort Knox? I could fly a helicopter through the lobby and set it down right inside the vault. And it would be a hell of a lot easier than breaking into the goddamn CIA!" Reuben joined in with me. I high-five him.

"Hey, I think we all need to calm down! Basher did his best, you can't blame him that the casino decided to update their surveillance," Linus tried.

"Yeah, thanks for screwing everything up Basher!" I muttered.

"Okay, were here everyone!" Danny called out loudly drowning out my comment. A big green sign read plainly "High Security Keep Out!"

"Well how many places we break into say that?" I muttered. Danny pulled up to the front of the building that basically screamed government. Everyone hopped out.

"So how are we gonna play this one?" Rebuen asked.

"Aunt Jemima?" Danny looked questionly at Rusty.

"Sounds about right, being it's a government building," Rusty agreed.

"Wait a minute, what's the Aunt Jemima?"

"The name really has nothing to do with the plan actually. It's named that cause Rusty, Danny, and me were eating pancakes and when Rusty poured Aunt Jemima's on his pancakes he came up with it," I explained. Everyone began to get our supplies. Black heist rope, a small blowtorch, a drill, and a government lawyer outfit for me.

"Do you care to explain about this?" Linus asked as he gestured to the racks of government official and personnel clothes.

"All I can say is that we've done a lot of heists. It takes too much time to do costume changes, so we just keep the outfits we stole," I explained as I picked up one of them and smelled it. I grimaced and put it back. "But no one ever takes them home and washes them so it's hard to find a good one. You can't imagine how much you sweat during a heist." I continued. I finally found one that was clean enough.

"So are you gonna be a gentlemen and leave?" I asked.

"Oh, of course," Linus stuttered as he climbed out of the van. I rolled my eyes. I had high class blouse on and had just taken off my jeans when Rusty opened the door.

"Rusty!" I screamed.

"Opps!" Rusty grinned as he shut the door.

"Pervert!" I yelled so everyone outside the van could hear. I exited the van and was greeted by an argument going on between Linus and Danny.

"I'm coming with you!"

"Your still a rookie. Plus we have everyone we need to pull off an Aunt Jemima," Danny explained.

"Abby, tell him I'm ready!" Linus pulled me into it.

"Sorry kid," I sighed. "We have everyone." Linus, Turk, and Virgil all were staying behind. If Turk and Virgil didn't kill each other before we got back everything would turn out fine.

"Nice black underwear." Rusty said as we headed to the building. I socked him in the stomach hard. A trick I had learned from Danny. Everyone had eventually learned they didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of them.

IN THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING

I walked around. Smiled and talked to the employees till I saw Rusty. I knew the play as good as anyone.

"Code Red! We got a Code Red!" I yelled into my radio we had made sure was tapped into the other security guards. as I ran after Rusty. He ran away from me and I eventually pummeled him the to the ground hard.

"I got the suspect!" I said into my radio. I kicked him and Rusty moaned. "You couldn't have done that any softer!" "I gotta make it look good don't I!" I hissed. The security guards arrived as I was handcuffing Rusty.

"You love this part don't you?"

"You have no idea!" I replied as I pulled him up and shoved him through the crowd.

IN THE INTEROGATION ROOM

"So, what did you plan to do once you got in here? Massacre everyone?" an old interrogation officer asked.

"I'm sorry sir. But that is not in Mr. Bond's MO," I replied. He looked at me confused.

"Who are you?" I laughed. "You dare ask me that? Haven't you heard of Regina Falange?" He stared blankly at me.

"Well that's some embarrassment on your part. I was sent undercover here tonight because my agency got a tip that Mr. Bond may strike again here." I handed him a file that we had made ready for this play many years before. It showed fake jail photos and gave very believable information about him stealing bomb materials from different government facilities. He looked over it slowly still cautious about me.

"Bond?" he asked me skeptically.

"Yes sir. Named after the 007 himself," I replied. He kept eyeing me like he knew something was up, but he couldn't figure it out.

"Do you mind if you go and double check this information?" he asked carefully.

"Not at all. I wouldn't mind a few minutes interrogating him after all these years of chasing him!" I said smoothly, giving Rusty a dirty look. I wasn't worried cause I knew what he was suspicious about was not the file. It was me. But we had already covered this problem a long time ago. When he looked up my name in his database he would find newspaper editorials with quotes from me, information saying that I was on this case, and pictures of me doing charity work in India. The last one was added to soften him up a little, though they were real pictures from when I had disappear for a while. My choices were either Yemen or India and I had chosen India.

"So you thought you were gonna get away from me again did you?" I asked sitting down in the chair across from Rusty. Rusty looked at his feet.

"Did you? You little punk?" I asked as I abruptly stood up and threw the table against the wall. "Well you didn't did you? You know how long it's gonna be before you see sunlight? 20-30 years and that's only for the robberies we know about! I'm sure we could have you for much more! Your operation is going down Bond!" I yelled. Rusty's face was one of pure shock. The man came back this time more trusting of me.

"Regina, your partner called and said he is ready to transport him to a safer location pending his trial."

"Thank you, it's good I wasn't in here longer with him or I may not have been a able to control myself," I agreed as I brushed off my shirt. I jerked Rusty along with me, but the old man stopped me.

"I just want you to know I looked you up and I was very impressed by your dedication to your job. We need more people like you madam," he said. I smiled.

"Thank you sir. I just love my job." I replied.


	18. Chapter 18

"You know you actually gave me some chills back in there?" Rusty said. I paused in shock.

"Really?"

"Yeah, if we weren't in this business maybe you would have had a calling in interrogation," Rusty admitted. There was a long pause, before we broke into laughter.

"Could you imagine!" I squealed in laughter.

"Not in a million years!" Rusty replied.

"How'd it go?" Danny asked, as we hopped into the van.

"Danny, you know you can always count on us," I replied. Danny cringed remembering certain cases where that had not been the case.

"Did you guys get it?" Rusty implored, as we headed away from the government facility.

"Yeah…eventually. Basher didn't know what room it was so we got a little lost…" Danny admitted.

"It's the most heavily guarded room! How hard it to find?" I pointed out.

"Everything is heavily guarded, it's a government facility," Danny reminded me.

"Touché," I agreed. The car went quiet, as I realized something.

"Uh, Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you change your mind about Linus working the Aunt Jemima?"

"No, why?"

"Cause he's not here," I cringed as Turk breaked, sending everyone flying forward.

"Could you give us a little more warning next time, Turk! God!" Virgil moaned.

"Are you positive he's not here?" Danny cried, fear in his voice.

"Danny, I think I know if someone's here or not," I replied sarcastically. Suddenly, as if on cue sirens and alarms whirred from the government building behind us.

"Abby would you mind reprising your role?"

"Not at all." I smiled.

OUTSIDE THE GOVERNMENT CENTER

The people were filed outside and many more were running from the building. At a government site, you'd think they'd be more orderly. I flashed my badge to someone who looked like they were first in command and proceeded to pass the yellow tape set up.

"Excuse me, what are you doing intruding upon my crime scene?"

"Regina Falange, crime scene investigator and someone who can get you fired within minutes with one call to a judge. So I suggest you fill me in," I retorted, giving him a huge smile.

"Of…of course, Miss Falange," he stuttered.

"Good, now what exactly happened?" I inquired. The officer proceeded to tell me about how a nuclear device called a pinch was missing.

"Have you searched your men stationed here?"

"We didn't feel there was a need-" he started.

"Well it didn't just walk out of here did it? You do you thorough search of your men and I can guarantee you'll find something." I interrupted as I walked into the building.

"I want all personnel on the crime scene out of here and out of site! This is now my jurisdiction and I am the only one with authorization allowed in here! Is that clear?"

"Yes, Madame," the officer at the door replied. He was deathly scared of me, that I could tell. I stopped and patted him. "Dinner tomorrow, seven, Chinese, don't be late."

Once I was out of hearing from the cops and the doors of the facility were closed I laughed at my own cleverness.

"Linus? Where are you?" I hissed.

"Linus?" I yelled.

"What?" a voice returned.

"Where the hell are you?" I yelled.

"Look up," Linus directed. I did. There he was tangled in black spy rope where he had smashed through the sky light. I stifled a laugh.

"You have seen too many spy movies my friend!" I yelled.

"Are you gonna help me get down or what?"

"I'll think about it," I admitted.

"Come on, Abby it's not funny!" Linus groaned.

"It kind of is! The boys are gonna get a kick out of this!" I laughed as I took out my digital camera and proceeded to take pictures.

"Hey, cut it out!"

"Don't worry kid. We all did stupid things as rookies. Basher blew up his house, Rusty spelled the security code apple wrong, Turk and Virgil got in a public fight and were arrested, Reuben got wasted instead of performing his job in the heist and went streaking in the mall, and well Danny didn't do any of that. But don't tell anyone I told you about the Reuben thing."

"Have you taken enough pictures now?"

"Yeah I guess so," I admitted. "Okay brace yourself I'm gonna cut you down."

"Wait, what?" Linus cried, but he didn't have time to react as he hit the ground.

"Now, don't be a baby! We still got to get out of here and my alias isn't going to support you being here."

"So, what do you suggest?"

"Danny?" I spoke into my radio on my shoulder. "You ready for pick-up?"

"We'll be there in 2 secs."

"Good, get Turk into uniform as my partner, get a squad car, and get Rusty in the back."

"Shouldn't be a problem."

"Good, we'll meet at Casper's road and switch into the van then." Danny pulled up in the back and picked up Linus, while I headed to the front. It was just the way I had left it. Chaos!

"Nothing inside. No prints, no trace, no evidence. Whoever did it was good." I alerted the first officer in change I had talked to before.

"You were right, Madam," he said gesturing toward the area where the workers were stripping. I smiled.

"We already found one man who confessed to stealing government property from here, thanks to your suggestion of striping."

"Good to know I could be of help sir. I hope to work with you in the future." I said, shaking his hand.

"Don't you want to stay and interrogate the suspect? I heard you did a good job with that Bond guy today."

"Oh, that was nothing." I scoffed. Abruptly a voice came through the radio static. "A 422 murder, bridge comb and herald. I repeat bridge comb and herald," Danny's voice rang out.

"Duty calls," I answered into the radio.

"It has been a pleasure, Madame. The work you do keeps criminals off the street, and I'd be surprised if it hasn't decreased with all the work you've done." he replied. I smiled knowingly.

"There should be more law enforcement professionals like you, Madame." he said, saluting me.

"Goodbye sir." I replied as I saluted him back. I shook my head as I headed toward the cop car. Turk was in the front seat and Rusty was in the back.

"I can't believe you suggested the stripping," Rusty laughed.

"Hey, I wanted to make things interesting," I defended as we pulled away.

"What about that guy though? Total weirdo with the whole salute and compliments thing," Turk brought up.

"He was pretty weird," Rusty agreed.

"You guys are just jealous because he didn't compliment you or salute you for that matter! Oh, and the fact that neither of you could pull off what I just did."

"Your right we couldn't fit into the dress and pantyhose," Rusty joked. I smacked him.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's note: This isn't my favorite chapter, but it's the best I got… I hope you like it!

"If someone doesn't remove Abby from my lap she's gonna end up on the floor," Rusty cried.

"She's been on your lap for five hours now, you can wait two more minutes," Danny replied.

"She kind of looks like a doll you know," Linus admitted, gazing down on Abby's face. Abby let out a loud snore.

"Yeah, a doll with a sinus problem maybe," Rusty stated.

"Man, she's gonna have one bloody headache once she wakes up. You slammed her head pretty hard into the van when you were carrying her," Basher admitted.

"Relax, she'll just think it's a hangover if nobody tells her," Rusty replied, calmly.

"You know her way too well, you know that," Linus stated.

"Tell me about it," Rusty groaned.

ABBY'S P.O.V.

"Ugh, why does my head feel like someone took a chain saw to it," I groaned, as I looked up to see Rusty's face.

"But more importantly why am I on Rusty's lap?" I asked bluntly.

"Believe me darling, I'm not liking this any more than you are," Rusty replied, looking away. I smiled as I moved closer to him.

"I think whoever invented Mondays needs to be taken out in the middle of the street and shot repeatedly with a Taser," I muttered.

"I'm sure you would like to the honors," Rusty played along.

"You know it," I snorted.

"Okay, everyone were here. Someone call Reuben and Saul and tell them," Danny stated. I crawled off Rusty's lap and made my way to the door. Rusty made it there first and opened it for me.

"Wow, what do you know Rusty's becoming a gentlemen," I joked.

"What, Turk you didn't open my door for me!" Virgil cried.

"Dudes don't open other dudes door, its like an unwritten rule," Turk scoffed.

"You could still be courteous!"

"Stop being a girl!"

"Your both being girls!" Linus yelled.

INSIDE THE STADIUM

"Your late!" Saul's voice yelled into my ear.

"God, Saul! Could you talk any louder! I have a headache cause Rusty apparently accidentally slammed my head into the car while he was carrying me," I groaned as I held my head.

"Why was Rusty carrying you?"

"It's a long story," I admitted.

"Sounds interesting, but I got some bad news." I stopped dead in my tracks. This was something we did not need. Danny, Rusty, and Linus were just ahead of me and didn't realize I had stopped.

"You've been red-flagged. It means the moment you step on the casino floor, they'll be watching you. Like hawks. Hawks with video cameras," Saul continued.

"They couldn't have flagged all of us. I don't have a record-"

"But Danny does."

"And who knows about everyone else." I whispered in fear. Tears started to run down my cheeks in panic. "How did this happen Saul?" I cried.

"Did anyone meet with Tess or Benedict alone? Cause them to be suspicious?"

"Yes, someone did." I recalled what Danny had said about meeting my mom. I looked up to see everyone was about to enter the building.

"DANNY!" I screamed. Danny turned around, his eyes filled with fear at my cry. I ran up to him and the others. They all looked at me intrigued.

"We have a major problem." I said harshly.

"You just couldn't leave her alone could you?" I whispered.

"Wait who are we talking about?" Linus asked confused.

"My wife," Danny answered, his eyes never leaving my face.

"Ex-wife," Rusty corrected. Which was about the time Saul lightened the mood by appearing outside the boxing arena in nothing, but a bathrobe. "Tess is here?" he asked adding to the conversation.

"Wait, they let you out here in just a bathrobe?" I asked, confused.

"They don't question a guy who is paying a small fortune for a box seat. Besides you should have seen the looks I got from the ladies on my way here."

"Is there a reason you're here other than to play the role of the creepy guy in a bathrobe?" Virgil pointed out.

"Yes, there is. I'm sorry. You're out, Danny." Everyone stopped, waiting for his reaction. I looked to him in shock. He smiled softly, though his eyes showed a world of hurt.

"It's that or we shut down right now. His involvement puts us all at risk," Rusty cried angrily. He and Danny stared each other down.

"This isn't your call," Danny yelled.

"You made it my call. When you put her ahead of us. You made it mine!" Rusty shot back.

"This is my job!" Danny protested.

"Not anymore," Rusty finished. I looked around the room and saw that everyone in the room was on Rusty's side.

"Hey, listen everyone! If Danny put the operation in danger it was not on purpose! We can hold our own. But don't blame Danny for loving the one person who can't live without! My mother. Someone took her from us, without thinking of the repercussions and we are here to take her back. The most important rule of the game is to play it like you have nothing to lose. But we lost something, not something, the one thing that matters to both of us. I lost a mother, and Danny lost a wife. So if you take this away from him, it'll kill him and me. We've all had it worse than being red flagged!" I pointed out, defending Danny.

I looked around unable to read their expressions for once. "Thank you Abby. But Rusty is right. I would jeopardize the operation," Danny admitted.

"Your giving up?" I cried. He stopped in front of me.

"Your letting him win," I whispered.

"What do you think were doing right now, Abby? Were stopping Benedict!" Rusty objected.

"If Danny isn't there he wins," he stated, my gaze never leaving Danny's. Danny smiled softly, as he wrapped me in a hug.

"Listen to Rusty, hon. He knows what he's doing," he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes.

"But it isn't fair," I cried.

"You know as well as all of us life isn't fair, sweetheart. I know I wasn't always there for you-"

"That's a lie! You were always there! You taught me everything I know!" I protested.

"Hey, your gonna get Benedict! You have to take him down now! Make sure you see his face when he sees his precious money is gone. I'll be seeing you," he finished, as he let me go. I turned to watch my father disappear into the night. When I turned back around everyone was staring at me.

"But, but... he can't just be out. Who's gonna take his place?" Virgil asked, confused.

Kid, you up for it?" Rusty asked. Linus nodded reluctantly.

"Find everyone else. Let 'em know the change in plan. Curtain goes up at seven," Rusty instructed. Everyone looked at each other unsure of what to do, what Rusty's glare told them to get a move on. He walked towards me, as if to console me, but he never was good at that. I brushed past him harshly.

"Tess is with Benedict now?" Turk asked confused.

"She's too tall for him," Virgil agreed. I went to the bar and ordered a shot at the bar. We could be in the stadium as long as we stayed away from each other until it was time for our jobs. But Saul surprising decided to break that rule by sitting next to me, still in his bathrobe.

"I thought the point of a job was to not attract attention," I joked.

"Yeah, well honey, you've been attracting attention since the day you were born. I couldn't attract more by talking to you than you already have since you entered," Saul laughed. I smiled.

"That was a pretty good show you put on back there."

"You think so, cause I worked really hard on it. You don't think the whole brushing past Rusty thing was too much?" I asked, concerned.

"Not at all. My question is why did you just fool the whole team into thinking Danny is out?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Danny needed to do some things before he joins us again." Saul gave me a look.

"I know this might be a shock to you but Danny does not tell me everything!" I pointed out.

"So he's in?"

"Absolutely."

"And you trust him?"

"With my life and everyone else's." Saul started to walk away, but I stopped him.

"Hey, could you not tell everyone that it was an act. I promised Danny."

"Your secret's safe with me," Saul winked. I rolled my eyes before yelling, "Get some clothes you hobo" after him.

WITH RUSTY AND LINUS

"Where you gonna put your hands?" Rusty quizzed Linus. Linus clasped them.

"No…" Rusty said calmly. Linus tried his pockets.

"Not the pockets, either. And don't touch your tie. Look at me…" Rusty coached.

"I ask you a question, you have to think of the answer, where you gonna look?" Rusty tries again. Linus looked down. I rolled my eyes as I entered the room.

"Worst thing you can do kid, and believe me we know," I helped.

"You look down, they know you're lying," Rusty added.

"By the way awesome acting, I almost believed it," Rusty said over his shoulder to me.

"Ugh, was I not convincing? Cause I thought that was some of my best work there! How did everyone see through it?" I groaned.

"What? What are you guys talking about?" Linus asked confused.

"Good, at least someone bought it. But then again newbie's believe anything. Was there a certain part that was unrealistic?"

"The whole monologue thing wasn't you. If we didn't know you it would have been different, but…"

"So, who knows?"

"Basically everyone, but the twins are still arguing about it."

"Of course," I rolled my eyes.

"So where am I supposed to look?" Linus interrupted.

"Up they know you don't know the truth. Don't use three words when one will do, don't shift your eyes, look always at your mark but don't stare, be specific but not memorable, funny but don't make him laugh,"

"The laughing thing won't be hard since the guy hardly ever laughs, plus let's admit it your not funny," I offered.

"He's gotta like you then forget you the moment you've left his sight, and for God's sakes whatever you do, don't under any circumstances-" Rusty instructed.

"Rust? Abby can you come here a sec?" Basher called.

"Sure thing," Rusty replied and I followed him.


	20. Chapter 20

"Okay so what's our cover?" I asked as I pulled a red sequined dress over my head.

"I thought you'd go as you, and I'd go as your dashing, handsome…"

"You can cut out the compliments," I rolled my eyes.

"husband," Rusty finished.

"Can't, Linus is already my steady boyfriend remember?" I pointed out. Rusty paused, trying to tell if I was telling the truth, joking, or referring to one of my covers. He eventually realized it was the last one.

"Oh, yeah that was when Linus got the codes. Man, I was really looking forward to being your husband" Rusty drawled sarcastically.

"Well, your just gonna have to suck it up and play someone else. How about my cousin?"

"Too suspicious, how about new boyfriend?"

"So, you expect them to buy the fact that I broke up with Linus and got a new boyfriend 3 days later?" I asked, unsure people would buy it.

"It's believable, especially because of how you are with relationships."

"Thanks for the ego boost," I said rolling my eyes, as I straightened my dress in the mirror.

"Anytime, babe," Rusty joked.

"Okay, I'm coming out, but you got to swear you won't laugh," I groaned.

"You know I can't promise that."

"Ugh, fine just can it for a couple minutes," I groaned, as I opened the dressing room door. Rusty's face went to one of shock.

"That bad?" I grimaced.

"No, no not at all. Your just…"

"Just what?" I asked confused.

"Beautiful," Rusty finished. My face brightened.

"Well, thank you. You don't look so bad yourself. Your no Brad Pitt of course, but-"

"Hey, you guys gonna send Yen off or… Wow, Abby you are hot!" Virgil cried peeking his head in. I blushed, making my face the color of my dress.

"Don't let Danny hear you," I joked.

WITH YEN

"When do you make the deposit?" Rusty quizzed the brothers.

"Not until we get your signal," Turk answered again.

"Hey, what do we look like a couple of goof balls who are gonna screw everything up?" Virgil pointed out annoyed, as he leaned against a table, causing a vase to crash to the ground. Rusty and me grimaced.

"He'll pay for that, don't worry," Turk assured us.

"Wait, what? I'm not paying for that piece of crap!" Virgil insisted. I rolled my eyes.

"No one is paying for it. If this goes right, Benedict will be paying for everything," I assured them.

"Hey, yen? Want something to read? Magazine?" Rusty yelled into the small container yen was going to inhabit for the next couple hours. A small middle finger was held up in response.

"Okay. I'm counting down. Thirty minutes of breathing time starts…" Rusty counted down.

"Now!" I cried. Rusty glared at me, as Virgil and Turk sealed Yen inside.

"What? I like saying it," I replied to Rusty's glare. Virgil placed a tablecloth over the container and we were off!


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's note: This chapter has a more serious tone to it, but I like it! I rewrote this chapter so many times, so don't flame me about it. Spoiler: Rusty and Abby have a small fight and in the next chapter (which will be up soon) they will decide what to do about their relationship…**

**Disclaimer: I hate doing these, but I haven't done it for many of the other chapters so- I don't own anything to do with Ocean's 11. I own my original character Abby! I have been inspired by lines from national treasure and other heist movies.**

No matter what people tell you, the most important part of any good heist is explosives and their placement. Not to say the others aren't important cause they obviously are. Without the other parts the whole thing is just something you hear on the news and wish you could have the skills to do. As I have stated before you don't hear about good heists. This heist was no different. This involved climbing through vents, connecting to the right wire, making sure not to be seen, and making sure you don't raise anyone suspicions. Along with being able to carry a cover and able to maintain it before and after you place the pinch. It's one of the most important parts of any good heist. Which is why the job to do this is often given to the best liars, thin people who can squeeze through vents, and anyone not caustrophic. Which narrows it down to Rusty and me.

"Virgil, Turk your on, Abby and me are heading off to set the pinch now," Rusty said into the small misc that was connected wirelessly to the ears of all the heist members.

Livingston was sweating profusely as usual, his eyes never leaving the TV's showing every security cam in the whole casino. Rusty turned to find me staring at myself in the wall length mirror.

"Maybe one day I'll wear this to a party I'm actually invited to," I sighed as I continued to stare at the reflection of my red dress.

"Hey, you look great Abs. Who cares if were invited or not? Your hot! Livingston isn't she hot?"

"Your hot," Livingston said his eyes never leaving the screens. I was pretty sure he hadn't even seen me since I had been wearing the dress.

"And we all know I'm hot, so shall we?" Rusty finished.

I rolled my eyes as we hooked arms and opened the door leading to the huge museum common room. The room was full of high class people. The perfume was so strong it was hard to get a good breath in. The people were milling about or sitting on huge royal blue couches that looked more like thrones that the Queen of England would sit on.

There was a huge TV, I knew was put in just for this event. It showed coverage of the event. You would think that everyone would want to watch the fight, but I knew better. It was for publicity for the casino and museum more than anything. Which was why the casino was still open and there was a party reserved for the highest ranking guests. Which was what we had just walked into.

"Darling, I didn't know you were coming!" a squeal was heard through the crowd. My mother ran to hug me, keeping a steady hand on her wine glass.

"Well, we thought we'd thought we'd surprise you mom!" I laughed, as I welcomed her hug. Rusty cleared his throat.

"Of course, how could I forget you Rusty!" Tess smiled, as she greeted him.

"You look good Tess," Rusty admitted. She blushed, and waved away the compliment.

"So, where is Linus?"

"Oh, well should we tell her?" I laughed, turning to Rusty on cue.

"She's gonna find out anyway," Rusty smiled.

"That very same day we had lunch with you, I… well I found Linus was another woman. It was very tragic you see. But I believe everything happens for a reason. Rusty and I have been dating ever since," I admitted. Tess's eyes brightened.

"I always knew you two had chemistry! Those late night phone calls and that trip to Paris!" she cried piecing things together. I grimaced remembering how Paris had turned out.

"Well that was cheesy," I said as we headed onto the dance floor.

"Relationships aren't supposed to be original," Rusty replied.

"Well they should," I stated as he twirled me.

"You're wearing the perfume I got you in Paris," Rusty said as he dipped me.

"What makes you think that? Maybe it's the flowers," I asked surprised as he pulled me up. Rusty looked over my shoulder at the flowers which were far across the room.

"I remember how that perfume smelled," Rusty replied simply as he pulled me toward him.

"So now you're a perfume expert?" I joked, an inch away from his face.

"Maybe, or maybe it's cause when I bought it I knew that was the how I wanted the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with to smell," Rusty said softly.

Our faces were close together now. I knew I had to say it. "Rusty, we decided in Paris were not good together. You bring the gasoline, I bring the fire. Were too much alike. We had our run, can't you see that?" I said softly.

"You decided that in Paris. I agreed for your sake, Abs. But I never, I never stopped loving you. Our witty banters, our long talks, all the while saying were just friends. I think you decided we could only be friends to stop yourself. Your afraid I'm gonna hurt you, cheat on you, or maybe your afraid of something else. Your afraid that what we have might not be just a friendship it's something more! I can't be friends with you knowing that I once was and still am in love with you."

"Rusty, we'll talk about this later okay," I said coming back to reality.

"When do you want to talk about this Abigail? After the heist, cause we all know what happens after. It's the same for everyone. We hug, say goodbye, spend a couple Benjamin's at a casino, lay low for a while, don't talk to anyone who worked the heist, spend the money and promise to change your life, but you never do, then someone calls, someone's in trouble or someone's bored and wants to steal something, so you agree because you have nothing better to do, then it starts all over again!"

"So what? You just laid out the whole life of a good thief in a couple sentences. I happen to love the life I got placed with Russ!"

"So you like being alone, never being close to anyone, being afraid if your too close you'll admit something, something about a certain job, something that will arouse suspicions," Rusty detailed her life.

"Hey, don't judge my life! I love it! Just because it's not like everyone else's doesn't mean it isn't perfect for me, just because you want me to want you like you want me, and love you like you love me doesn't give you right to try to make me feel miserable about my life!"

"You know your gonna have to choose one of them! Me, Turk, or the kid!"

"And how do you think I should go about doing that?" I yelled suddenly.

The whole time we had been keeping our voices low and no one had noticed, but now people were starting to stare. This was getting awkward fast. I looked at Rusty, his eyes were pleading, but there was something else I hadn't seen in a long time. Love, he was begging for me. I quickly left before we made a scene, and Rusty followed.

"How close is Basher?" I asked into my bug.

"He just arrived, and do I need to ask what's going on between you and-"

"It's nothing don't worry about it, worry about the surveillance and whatever else you worry about on a daily basis," I instructed.

"Basher wants to know where your location is," Livingston stated. I looked around and vaguely remembered entering the women's bathroom.

"Put me through to him," I ordered. Livingston tapped some buttons until I heard Basher's voice over the bug.

"Where in the bloody world are you girl! You don't have much more time before Yen suffocates!"

"I know, I know Bash! Where are you?"

"I think I should be asking you that! You and Rusty were supposed to pick up the bloody package ten minutes ago!"

"We got distracted, okay! Right now I'm in the bathroom hiding from a conversation I'm not ready to have with Rusty!"

"Which one?"

"Women's."

"Just get here!"

"Okay, I'll start heading there!" I replied reluctantly. Being in a enclosed place with Rusty continuing our conversation from the party was not the ideal next fifteen minutes of my life. Especially since I didn't know what to tell him.

I slammed the door to the bathroom shut violently causing glares from some considerably wealthy women who were standing nearby. I smiled brightly and I started toward the back entrance where Basher would be waiting.

Rusty was off chatting and drinking champagne with a group of wealthy women, but he must have realized we had to be on the move because he started to head the same way as me. We made our way together, not talking, not looking at each other. Basher met us at the doors.

"Wow, it's pretty small" I admitted as Basher pulled out a small detonator like object.

"Small but deadly, if you drop it, it goes off like a bomb and were all dead. If you let the wires tough the brass sides-" Basher explained.

"Were the last people we see," I finished.

"Doesn't sound that bad," Rusty shrugged as we both reached for it at the same time. Our hands brushed up against each other.

"I think Abby should transport it on this one," Basher suggested. I smiled. I tucked it inside my purse as we headed to a secluded hallway to perform our plan.

WITH LINUS

"It only came to our attention this morning, Mr. Benedict. Apparently he has a record longer than my arm," Linus explained.

"If he is who you say he is," Benedict replied a bit annoyed as he hailed one of his men. "Call over Mr. Ramon Escalante."

"Certainly, Mr. Benedict," the man said as he was trained to do. Benedict looked through his portfolio checking the codes. We had already placed special video cameras to capture the codes. The footage was being fed through to the expensive rooms where Livingston was waiting to receive them.

"Did you make it out?" Rusty's voice asked over the bugs we were all wearing in our ears.

"His head blocked the last two numbers," Livingston replied. "We missed it, Linus. You gotta grab the combination yourself."

MEANWHILE: FLASH TO ABBY AND RUSTY

Livingston had already set the security tapes on a loop so security couldn't see anything that was really going on.

"Candy or popcorn?" Rusty joked using the code words we had come up with a long time ago.

"I think let's go with candy," I suggested.

"You think that's wise?"

"Since when do our jobs involve wisdom?"

"Good point, let's blow it" Rusty agreed. I strapped a small bomb to the ceiling hatch and Rusty grabbed my hand as we ran for cover. The bomb barely made a sound as it blew up a small area in the ceiling connecting us to a maze of vents.

"And here's where the fun starts!" I joked as he gave me a boost into the vent. Soon we were both in the vent and ready to go to work.


	22. Chapter 22

Author's note: I absolutely hate this chapter and I think it turned out horrible! It's too mushy for my tastes and I admit I think it makes the characters seem one sided… But I've scraped this chapter sooo many times. I keep rewriting it and it isn't getting any better, so here you have it. The worst written chapter in the whole story. Please no flames…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Ocean's Eleven.

You know that couple that is so deep in love that they can't see anyone else. You just know they were made for each other and that there is no way they are made for everyone else. They are so crazy in love and everyone envies them. Everyone knows at least one couple like this. And Rusty and me were once one.

"I gotta go Rus!" I cried pushing him away.

"No! Please just a couple more minutes!" Rusty pleaded as he grabbed my hand. I smiled.

"Danny's gonna freak if he finds out about us," I argued. Rusty rolled his eyes, and slammed his car door.

"Can't you just not argue with me for once! Just once!" He pounded his fist into the car. "Sorry, babe I didn't mean that," he apologized as he wrapped me in a hug.

"Your wearing that perfume I got you," he said as he stroked my hair.

"What can I say? You're a man of many talents," I laughed.

"And picking out perfume is one of them?" Rusty played along.

"Of course, among your other talents," I laughed playfully.

"Oh, and what would be my other talents Miss Ocean?" I leaned against the car and pretended to think really hard.

"Oh, really?" Rusty leaned in and began tickling me. I screamed as he chased me around the lawn. Soon we fell onto the grass breathless and just stared at the stars.

"You think your dad's gonna see us?" he whispered in my ear.

"Who cares?" I smiled. It grew silent between us as we continued to look at the stars.

"You know what I'm gonna do it! I love you Abby," he said sitting up and looking at me. There was another silence. I smiled before replying that I loved him.

I was brought back to reality by the song Jesse's girl that was exploding from my dress.

"Crap, this is not a good time," I groaned as I reached to get my phone. Rusty and me hadn't talked the whole time we were in the air vent. The silence had been pretty awkward actually, but I now knew it was about to get way more awkward. I knew this air vent was soon going to reach a new level of awkwardness on the awkward scale. This was going to surpass the time I fell into the wrong skylight right into a dinner party.

"Hey Jesse," I answered trying to sound casual.

"How you doing beautiful?" his handsome voice asked through my phone loud enough for Rusty to hear.

"I'm great, but I'm really busy at work now," I replied hoping he would get the hint I wasn't able to talk.

"You work at ten o'clock at night?"

"Uh, yeah it's a new job I didn't tell you about. The boss is coming over so I gotta hang up now," I came up with.

"So, are we still good for dinner Tuesday?"

"Uh, I'll get back to you Jess okay," I replied before ending the call.

It was silent for a couple minutes. Neither of us moving or talking, just sitting in the air vent. "So I guess you moved on?" Rusty asked. That question held the fate of everything. I stopped abruptly and turned to face him. The question hung in the air between us. I closed my eyes and took a breath.

"July 18 1990," I stated.

"the first time I said that I loved you."

"It was the first time I ever felt the same way," I whispered. There was a second of uncertainty before his lips were on mine. It was beautiful and soft. It was something I hadn't felt in so long.

"Don't make me regret this Rusty! I can't be hurt again!"

"Never," Rusty replied before kissing me again. I had promised I would never fall in love with him again. But deep down I knew I had already broken the promise as soon as I made it. I had always loved him. And always would.


	23. Chapter 23

Author's note: I AM SO INCREDABLY SORRY! I am sooooo sorry it took so long to upload this! I swear I have not forgotten about this story, I just got a little writer's block. I felt the story deserved more than what I was giving it with my writer's block so I put it off for a while until I got some inspiration. I hope you guys like it! I tried to add some depth to the story of Danny and Tess!

"Livingston are Abby and Rusty out of the air vent?"

"Uh… not quite," Livingston admitted reluctantly.

"What do you mean not quite?"

WITH ABBY AND RUSTY

"Wait a minute are you carrying guns?" Rusty asked in-between kisses.

"Why?" I asked continuing to kiss him.

"Uh… think about it. Close quarters, loaded gun-" Rusty saw my face. "Oh, make that plural, more than one gun."

"Fine," I said pulling out the guns I had on me.

Just a note: Guns are no good to you if you don't have a place to hide them. Not somewhere too hard to get to or somewhere too predictable. When getting captured by an enemy one of the first things they do is check to see if you are carrying. They will do a quicker version of an airport check that pretty accurately tells where you are keeping your gun so it can be taken from you. This is where duct tape really comes in handy. Duct taping a gun to your leg, inside your shoe(if you want to be uncomfortable), under your long hair, and in your bra are pretty great ways of carrying. A good rule is to always carry more than one unless your Chuck Norris. If an enemy happens to find one of your guns, the best thing to do is to not freak out. Once they find one they become lazy and often underestimate your intelligence of having a back-up. Some times this is not the case obviously, which is why having other weapons such as knives, small explosives, and pepper spray are suggested. I quickly emptied my magazines and began kissing him again when Livingston started talking into my bug.

"Abigail,"

"Now is not a good time Livingston," I replied hastily.

"And when would be a good time Abigail?" Danny's voice came over the wire. I grimaced. Danny was never really a fan of Rusty and me. Separate he didn't have a problem. I actually think he enjoyed it when Rusty and me fought. I had almost forgotten how he had sprayed Rusty with the hose one of the last times we were together. That sounds pretty normal, but it just happened that it was more of a power washer than a hose.

"Fine, we'll get out the air vent," I gave in.

WITH DANNY

"That girl," Danny sighed and shook his head as he entered the restaurant area.

"Danny, No!" an indignant voice cried out. Danny smiled as he spotted the burnet woman he had fallen in love with so many years ago.

"Calm down Tess. We have a daughter together the best you can do is have a conversation with me. At least for Abby's sake."

"I'm having you thrown out of here!" Tess fumed as she started to move past him. He smiled as he grabbed her arm and wheeled her back to him. Her face was inches from his, she could have pulled back. But she lingered a moment studying his face.

Time had been good to him, even with his jail sentence and losing the love of his life. She couldn't help but stare. He was older, but his eyes were still the same. The same warm brown eyes that had drawn her to him in the first place.

He was the rebel without a cause and she was the head cheerleader. It was improbable, their love but when was the best love probable. They made it work a long time ago. She couldn't help but wonder if they could have saved it. Their marriage. Sure he was a thief, but she had known that for a long time. She was never fond of his stealing for a living. He had promised to stop after Abigail was born. But he was already addicted. Addicted to taking what wasn't his. While he was chasing after things that weren't his he lost one of the things that was.

"You're up to something, Danny, I know you," Tess continued still looking into his eyes.

"And what if I am?" Danny asked passionately.

"Then you better know what your doing, because know this: no matter what it is, you won't win me back," she replied.

Danny's eyes showed a flicker of hurt. "I just came to say goodbye, Tess. Have a good life with him, and don't let the memories of what we had wreck it." He lifted her chin up and winked.


	24. Chapter 24

Through the eyes of anyone that saw us that day we were an ordinary couple. We were young, happy, and free just like any young couple. No one knew we were some of the greatest masterminds of the century. That we had broke through some of the most complex security in the entire world. And that we were on probably the most dangerous mission of our lives.

We were quickly dismissed as a normal couple. Nothing suspicious about a couple holding hands in a hallway. I liked it like that, but at the same time I didn't. I had never been one for recognition.

Being a spy you can't want recognition because the only way you get it is by ending up in jail or solitary confinement with people afraid to say hello to you and be knocked unconscious.

I didn't want people to recognize us as thieves since that would blow the whole operation, but I didn't want to be stereotyped as a normal couple because we weren't. We were thieves, masterminds, best friends, past lovers, and now future lovers.

PARIS 1990

Paris is one of those places you can go and just get away from the world. It's also one of the most prominent places to perform a heist.

The problem is most people there think any Dick, Tom, and Harry can do it which is why security is usually doubled in Paris. I can assure if you are planning a heist and you decide to bring three guys named Dick, Tom, and Harry into it, you better start praying cause there is no way you'll even get close to the door. No offense.

"I feel like we should have some rules," I admitted as I took off my Chanel sunglasses.

Rusty and I had been sent ahead of the others to scout out the location for the heist. Danny wasn't happy that we were going alone and made me promise to keep a gun within my reach at all times if Rusty decided to make a move.

"Don't you trust me?" Rusty joked, his aviator glasses drooping down his nose as he looked at me.

"Not a chance," I replied.

"Good, wouldn't want you to start trusting me after ten years."

"Good, rule one no smoking," I said taking the cigarette out of Rusty's hand and putting it out.

"What? No!" Rusty protested.

"Rule number two no skinning dipping. I do not need a repeat of Spring break," I continued.

"Don't admit you didn't love it," Rusty wiggled his eyebrows at me as I rolled my eyes.

"No sleeping in the same bed cause the imaginary line thing doesn't work and we both know it."

"And how would you know?" I smacked him with a newspaper. At that time we didn't have many intelligence that could be relied on in Paris so we were relying on the newspapers there to enlighten us on any activities that were going on that would suggest less security.

"And no flirting with anyone except me, I don't need you blowing our cover as a loving couple."

"Since when have I blown a cover muffin?" Rusty said sweetly putting his arm around me.

"Muffin?" I asked confused as I pushed his arm off me. "You couldn't have come up with anything more… I don't know romantic?"

"Pumpkin?"

"Very funny."

"Sweetie?"

"Eh, it's okay" I grimaced.

"Poodle?"

"Do I look like a dog?"

We broke all the rules we had set, but I'll admit I never had as much fun breaking the rules as I did with Rusty. Paris had so many good and bad memories. That was where we started and ended and now we were starting again.

WITH LIVINGSTON

ABBY'S POV

"How's the kid?" I asked as I leaned over Livingston's shoulder to get a better look at the computer screen that was showing the footage from various security cameras.

Livingston jumped and gave me a look before answering.

"He's doing okay, Benedict hasn't raised any suspicions yet,"

"Where's Danny?" I asked not really listening.

"He went to see your mother I think," Livingston replied nonchalantly.

"LIVINGSTON!" Rusty and me yelled in unison.

"What? I can't control everything! If he wants to go off and attempt to woo your mother I can't stop him! I'm only one person!" Livingston yelled.

"This could ruin everything if Benedict finds him!" I cried in panic.

"Or it could be what distracts Benedict from figuring out what is going on."

"Or that," I admitted as I dialed Danny's number on my cell.

WITH DANNY

Their faces were still just inches apart when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and smiled.

"And that would be our daughter Tess, or have you forgotten we have one, too distracted by your new husband?"

"I would never forget about her! All I've ever done has been for her Danny and you know it," Tess defended.

"You really married Benedict for her benefit? Cause I hate to break it to her but she hates him."

"She doesn't know him," Tess huffed, though this was news to her.

"She doesn't want to know him Tess."

"Well, that's too bad because she'll just have to get to know him."

"She's not a child. You can't just force her to not hate someone, Tess."

"I think I know that better than you do Danny! You've been in prison for four years! While you were eating prison food your little girl grew up into a woman!"

"Tess, before you married him did you ever think there was a reason our daughter hated him?"

"Of course," Tess sighed. "She hated him because he wasn't you."


	25. Chapter 25

Author's note: Hey readers, thanks so much for the new reviews! I've been away for a while, but I'm back and I know this chapter may not be up to par, but another one may be coming today! Enjoy!

"Wait, Abby where are you going? You don't even know where he's at!" Rusty yelled.

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea," I admitted as I kept walking. Rusty pulled me around to face him and met me with a passionate kiss. I pulled away, smiling.

"Finish this later?" I joked as I headed around the corner.

"If we don't die or get captured or get locked up in prison for fifty years." I stopped and turned around to see Rusty standing hopelessly in front of me.

"Wait, who's going to prison?" Livingston's squeaky voice cried in my ear.

"No one is going to prison" I sighed as I pulled out my ear bug, and walked toward Rusty.

"What is this talk about prison Rusty? It never concerned you before."

"I didn't have something to lose then."

"And what would you be losing?" I asked my mouth inches from his. In one swift motion he grabbed me and dipped me with my head barely above the floor and proceeded to kiss me.

I turned around and began to walk away when I felt Rusty's eyes on back.

"Don't do anything stupid," he called after me. I smiled, my back to him.

"We both know this plan was built on stupid," I replied back as I pushed the elevator button.

WITH DANNY

"Danny, I-" Tess started. But she was interrupted as the song "Hero" by skillet, lit up the dance floor.

"One dance for old times sake?" Danny smiled, taking her hand.

"Okay, you obviously think that just because you paid the d j to play our song you have a chance with me. But I am happy with Ben-" Tess started, intent to decline his offer.

"I know Tess, I know. It's just a dance, and you have my word after it's over you'll never see me again."

"The word of a thief? What good has that ever done for me? A loveless marriage and a daughter that wants nothing to do with me?" Tess scoffed as she began to walk away. But he caught her hand.

"Tess, for all the dances I missed, give me this one," he pleaded. Her face softened and he lead her to the dance floor. She rested her head on his shoulder and they swayed to the music. The dancers dispersed as the music ended.

Tess broke away, and the room had already started to fill with chatter again. "At one time you were my hero, Danny. But not anymore, and nothing you can do will change that," Tess said softly as she let go of his hand and walked away.

Danny smiled sadly and headed to the bar. "What will it be?" the bartender asked.

"What do you got for a heart that's been broken for ten years?" Danny joked.

"Miss Benedict?" the bartender asked, knowingly.

"How'd you know?" Danny asked as he drank a shot.

"Cause she's come in here many nights saying that exact same thing."

Danny nodded taking in this new information. He laid down a tip and then proceeded to walk away, but stopped remembering something and walked back to the bar. "Could you get this to the d j?" he asked handing over a fifty dollar bill.

WITH ABBY

"Livingston call Linus's cell phone and tell him Danny's gone rogue," I ordered into my bug as I tried to quickly walk through the halls, without drawing attention to myself.

"But, I thought Linus-"

"was not to be contacted while he's stalling Benedict, I know. But the worst calling his phone would do right now is make Benedict annoyed, making Linus even less memorable," I replied as I continued through the hallways.

"So, are we still going with the same plan?"

"Well, there's no time for a new one. I just hope Danny knows what he's edited or were all in deep trouble."


	26. Chapter 26

Linus tried his hardest not to sweat. He was a good thief, but actor was not one of his strong suits. But you never get better unless you practice. Only he hadn't expected that practicing meant the whole heist was riding on if he could steal the codes to the vault, and distract Benedict, one of the most famous casino owners ever. He had been successful once before stealing codes from him, but Abby was there that time, making things run smoothly. Plus, he wasn't as nervous if she was there. As well as the fact that his cover had been Abby's boyfriend. That wasn't as hard to act for him. But Linus knew Abby wasn't going to be able to save him if Benedict recognized him or became suspicious.

"The agency has had our eyes on this man for quite some time, Mr. Benedict I appreciate you cooperating with us on this."

"I didn't really have a choice with it did I? I can already see the papers spreading the news I didn't corporate with an ongoing investigation of a known felon. I have been more than corporative on this matter have I not, Mr.-"

"Smith, and yes you have been more than corporative and you have my word that nothing will be said otherwise," Linus replied very matter of fact as they entered the interrogation room.

There was Frank ready to portray the felon employed by Benedict.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Escalante," Linus stated, circling the room. "Or should I call you Mr. Catton?" Linus continued as he pulled out a manila folder and slammed it on the table.

Frank sat there, arms crossed unfazed. "You are Frank Catton? Formerly of the Tropicana, the Desert Inn and the New York State penitentiary system?" Linus asked, as he walked to a seat across from Frank.

"Your silence suggests you don't refute that," Linus turned to Benedict. "Mr. Benedict, I'm afraid you've been employing an ex-convict. As you know, the N.G.C. strictly forbids-"

Frank muttered an obscenity loud enough for Linus to hear.

"Pardon me?" Linus asked confused.

You heard me. Just 'cause a black man tries to earn a decent wage in this state…" Frank leered.

"That has nothing to do with-" Linus defended.

"some cowboy like you's gotta kick him out on the street. won't let me deal cards, might as well call it white jack," Frank continued ranting.

"I resent your implication that race has anything to do with this," Linus replied matter of factly.

"Now, as I was saying, the Nevada Gaming Commission strictly forbids the employment of the colored-" Linus slipped, purposefully.

"That does it!" Frank yelled attacking Linus. Benedict tried to separate them, giving Linus the perfect opportunity to grab the codes from his jacket pocket.

"Okay, okay, I'm cool," Frank stops, knowing Linus got the codes.

"You alright?" Benedict asked harshly, annoyed that he was missing the beginning of the boxing match. That's when the lights went out. There was a lot of yelling, and twenty minutes later the lights went on to reveal Frank still beating up Linus. Benedict eventually called security on Frank and got him thrown out, even more annoyed that the power had gone out during the boxing match he was not watching. Benedict may have been annoyed, but Frank and Linus silently let out sighs of relief. That meant the plan was going as scheduled. The pinch had been placed and detonated. He just hoped Abby was okay and that no one severely panicked when the lights went out.

WITH SAUL

"How's the panic there?" Livingston asked into his misc connected with Saul's bug.

"As expected, lots of screaming, but no one has died yet," Saul admitted.

"Does that mean your ready?"

"Livingston, that's not the way to ask a man if he's ready to fake his death."

"But are you ready?" Livingston asked meekly.

"Shut up" Saul replied as he grabbed the table in front of him for support and began to cough violently.

WITH ABBY

"Did Yen get out okay?" I asked, as I continued to hurry down the hall.

"He made the jump and everything is going as planned, except the Danny problem. Did you find him yet?" Rusty replied as he looked over Livingston's shoulder at the control board as he put on his tie.

"I'm working on it, you know how long it takes to get to the casino? I'll suggest to Benedict that he should make the private rooms closer to the casino after this."

"I'm sure he'd love that, after losing his millions. At the rate your walking you should be coming up on it, about-" Rusty stated.

"Now," I finished as I turned off my misc. There was Danny leaving the bar. I quickly headed after him, while still trying not to look suspicious. But two security guards brushed past me and were on Danny in seconds. Basically my worst nightmare coming to life.

"Mr. Ocean. Mr. Benedict would like to see you," one of them said while the other grabbed his hands and put them behind his back roughly.

"I thought he might," Danny smiled devilishly.

"What? NO!" I yelled. I was upon them in seconds. I took down the first one in a matter of seconds, the second guard was a little harder, but he was knocked out just like the first.

"What are you doing still standing there? Get out of here Danny!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face. He just stood there and shook his head.

"Danny, I won't let them take you!"

"What do you think they'll do if I run Abby? Me being captured is part of the plan whether you like it or not Abby. It always has been, but I knew if I included you in this part, you would react like this. You need to trust me Abigail."

"Without you the plan is nothing Danny! You and me, father and daughter, we make this plan work. Everyone else may play a part, but we are the thieves! We are stealing back the only thing that has ever mattered to us! My mother, and your wife! How long will you be gone this time? How much jail time will you get for turning yourself in? I already lost a father once, I won't lose him again." I cried, the tears now pouring out, blurring my vision.

"Abigail," he said wrapping his handcuffed arms around me. "This is part of the plan and soon you will understand that. Can you trust me, your father that everything is going to be okay?" I nodded though the tears continued to flow.

"Then you need to go. More guards will be back soon and I can't have you come with me."

"Why?" I asked simply.

Danny sighed. "Your right, we started this together we might as well end it."


	27. Chapter 27

"You really didn't have to use these, you know," I joked gesturing towards the handcuffs. "It's not like were criminals or anything, well at least I'm not," I admitted. "Unless you count speeding tickets and who does?" I laughed nervously as they led us to a room in the quiet part of the hotel.

Danny didn't have to tell me which one of my many characters to portray. I knew the annoying romantic comedy girl would be the best choice for the situation. Not that I think romantic comedy girls are annoying, cause they're not. I actually happen to enjoy romantic comedies, you don't get a lot of romance in our line of work.

Most cops thinks that every thief sits at home and watches spy or heist movies. Which I'll admit we do normally head over to Reuben's to watch a James Bond movie after a good heist.

Reuben's got a movie theater installed in his house just for us, though he insists that it's for surveillance of his neighbors, that he has never trusted. But we all know that Reuben loves a good Bond movie, just like the rest of us. And we all learned the hard way that a small TV was not gonna cut it for twelve skilled thieves who like James Bond movies.

Anyway, yes we like those movies, but were not stupid enough to copy them. The ones that do are amateurs and the first ones to get caught. The key to being a good thief is having an original plan and a great set of people to set the plan in motion with. Over the years we all learned who we could trust and we couldn't. Plus a thief's gossip can be very useful in whether a person is to be trusted or not.

I trusted my intuition that the men that surrounded Danny and me would throw me in the same room as Danny if I annoyed them enough. Danny followed my lead, and acted annoyed by me, rolling his eyes, and even telling me to shut up a few times. We had learned the more security thought you hated each other, the more likely they were to put you in a room together to turn on one another. We were lucky they bought our act.

They shoved us into a room and onto two steel chairs in front of a table of the same material. Classic interrogation set-up, except we both knew this room was not used for interrogation. I had the casino and hotel floor plan burned into my memory and I knew this was the area you took people when you were doing more than interrogating them.

"How much longer do you think Mr. Benedict will be?" I asked impatiently.

"Did I really raise you to be this dumb?" Danny continued with the act, as the guards watched fascinated.

"The only raising me you did from jail," I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for him and the guards to hear.

"Really, your gonna play the innocent girl whose Daddy was a jailbird act? You think these guards aren't gonna see through it and let you go? Why do you think there are no cameras in this room huh? You think they want anyone to see what happens down here?" Danny continued.

"Benedict's not coming, is he?" I asked hesitantly. The question hung in the air, as a knock on the door followed. The door flew open and there stood a man I hadn't seen since I was five years old. My dad's best friend and best man at my parent's wedding, who I had only known by one name; Bruiser. I hid my shock and recognition with fear.

"I'm sure you'll have a good time with these two Bruiser," the one guard smirked as he patted Bruiser on the back and left the room. The other guard following right behind.

That's when Bruiser threw a punch at Danny, causing him to cry out in pain. "Not now Bruiser! God!" Danny yelled, as he wiped his chin.

"Sorry, Boss I forgot, but I thought you said she wasn't coming," Bruiser said gesturing to me.

"Plans have changed, but you just do what I told you and it all should work out," Danny reassured him.

"What is he supposed to do anyway? Or are you just going to let me in on the side plan you created as we go?" I joked.

"Same old Abby," Bruiser laughed as he pulled me in for a hug. "I thought you actually didn't recognize me, those acting classes must have paid off," Bruiser joked.

"Yeah, they did," I replied a little annoyed. I looked behind me to see that Danny was standing on one of the metal chairs attempting to open the airvent above us.

"So the new plan involves another airvent?" I asked confused.

"Yes and hopefully you won't be intimate with anyone in this one," Danny replied.

"You know about that?" I grimaced.

"Why do you think I chose Livingston to be our surveillance tech?"

"Because he can't keep a secret?"

"Winner winner chicken dinner," Danny replied as he climbed into the vent.

WITH LINUS

"Mr. Wills, if you don't mind, I am very late for my boxing match and I must attend to why my casino lost electricity," Benedict sighed annoyed.

"Of course, Mr. Benedict" Linus replied as they exited the room. Frank had already been taken out by security guards to be put into a police car with a driver that had been paid big bucks to drop Frank off on James Avenue.

"Let me just gather my papers," Linus replied as he sent papers everywhere in a desperate attempt to gather them all. While he was gathering them all, his phone rang.

Benedict sighed as he leaned against the door. "Do you know how to get back out alone?" He knew it was a security risk leaving anyone in the area where the whole casino was run, but he figured he had to chance it. Plus what could this annoying man really do?

"Of course, Mr. Benedict," Linus replied simply. "Enjoy the fight," he continued as Benedict slammed the door.

"I thought you weren't supposed to contact someone's whose undercover," Linus answered.

"Your not, but sometimes there are exceptions…" Livingston admitted.


	28. Chapter 28

"So what am I supposed to do?" Linus yelled into his bug. To say he was worried was an understatement. The thief that had been taught to always keep calm, was no longer calm. If his father could see him, now. Of course his father, Bobby Caldwell, famous among thieves, didn't exactly know about this heist. He knew that once this was over, his father would find out that his son had taken on the family business. Which either meant two things. His father would be jealous he wasn't invited in on the biggest heist of the century, by his fellow thieves. Or he would be ecstatic and call every thief he knew, to let them know his son was now in the family business. To him, one was as bad as the other, but he didn't have time to think of his father's wrath or pride.

"Abby said to carry on with your job as you would before," Livingston advised.

"And if I run into Danny?"

"Continue with your job, unless he says otherwise."

"I see the man who went rogue is still in power then," Linus sighed.

"When your thieves you never fully leave power," Rusty replied.

"Do you mind?" Livingston's annoyed voice was heard. Linus pictured Livingston giving Rusty an evil glare.

"Not at all, tell the kid about something you know nothing about," Rusty's voice was heard again.

"Just because Abby isn't back yet, doesn't mean you can take it out on everyone else. Plus, I've been working as a computer programmer since you were in diapers!" Livingston's voice was heard again.

"Wait, wait what about Abby?" Linus asked, concerned, as he stopped in his tracks.

"Abby's gone rogue as well," Livingston replied reluctantly.

"Just because she's a little late, doesn't mean she went rogue. She wouldn't do that!" Rusty defended.

"I thought you have eyes everywhere! It can't be that hard to find her… I mean them," Linus corrected himself.

"I've searched every camera there is. They are not-"

"Not what?" Linus gulped.

"Okay, nobody panic, but the last footage I have is them being taken away by security," Livingston said hesitantly.

"But wouldn't there be cameras where they took them?" Rusty demanded, obviously worried.

"Not necessarily," Livingston admitted. There was a moment of silence over the intercom that caused Linus to suspect that he had lost radio communication.

"No, no! Abby is too smart for that! She would never give herself up! She would fight! I'm going after her Livingston!" Rusty's frantic voice broke the silence. There was the sound of a door opening.

"Rusty, wait!" Linus yelled into his bug. There was silence. "Is he there?" Linus asked.

"I'm here!" Rusty said gruffly as the sound of Livingston being removed from his chair was heard.

"Listen, has Danny ever not had a plan? I'm sure he knows what he's doing. I mean, think about it Abby would never have gone with him if he didn't have a plan. They are both among the best thieves in the world, they know what they're doing."

"But-" Rusty interrupted, still determined to go after her.

"You have to trust Danny that he knows what he's doing. But most of all you have to trust Abby." Linus continued. He paused, then said the words he needed to get out, even if it wasn't to her. "I love her too."


	29. Chapter 29

The microphone hit the floor with a thud and Rusty stared at it in shock. He knew the kid had a crush on Abby, but he thought that was all it was. A teenage crush, after all the kid was barely over twenty one. But something about the way he said it, made Rusty believe this kid was not talking about your run of the mill crush. Linus loved her, probably as much as he did. He looked at the microphone on the floor and picked it up.

"Then I guess we have to find her, for both of our sakes."

WITH ABBY

The thing about air vents is that not all people can crawl through them. You have to take into account weight, size, and quickness. If you happen to break into the business and fit these qualities, crawling through air vents will be the majority of your work. It sounds like fun but believe me after the second time it's already boring. Now traveling through a laser field, that never gets boring. Yet, mostly because there is a highly likely chance of failure. Crawling through an air duct is a skill built upon your ability you learned as a kid. Not as exciting, especially when your in one with your old man.

"So I basically have to scream and pretend that I'm still in that room being beat up?" I clarified.

"Pretty much," Danny admitted as we crawled through the air duct. "The vent runs into that room, so it'll sound exactly like your there."

I screamed a bit trusting Danny was right with his calculations. My screams bounced off the walls causing Danny to cover his ears.

"I think that's enough," Danny groaned as we reached a open area.

"Now what?" I whispered.

"We wait for Linus," Danny replied.

"Linus?" I asked a little too loudly causing Danny to cover his ears again from the noise bouncing off the walls.

WITH LINUS

I approached the elevator leading to the vault. This seemed way too easy in my opinion. I checked the hallways for guards, figuring that any minute someone would ask me why I was there. I already had a cover story that I was lost thought up, but it seemed like I wouldn't have to use it.

There was no one even in sight. This boxing match must be really important for Benedict to give his security a night off. Benedict had made a mistake in doing so and he would pay greatly for it. But his mistake was our gain.

"Okay now the first combination on the sheet is the elevator door," Livingston explained as I punched in the numbers. "Once inside press floor thirteen," Livingston directed, and I followed his order.

"Going to video now," Livingston said dramatically as he hit some buttons. Now the only thing the few security guards on duty would see was an empty elevator.

"Linus you are now the invisible van, just don't do anything stupid cause I can still see you. People tend to go crazy and do stupid things when I tell them they are invisible."

"Don't worry," Linus sighed. "I'm more professional than that."

"Good, I would expect more than being mooned from Bobby Caldwell's son."

"Moving on Livingston."

"Of course. Okay, now once you reach the corridor there will be no cameras and minimal security. Take a right, then a left and you'll be in a vacant hallway. The ceiling should be low enough for you to reach. Take off one of the speckled boards and climb into the vacant space." I followed the directions and climbed through to find Danny and Abby staring at me.

WITH ABBY

"So this is where the people who go rogue hang out," Linus joked.

"Very funny, just cause your sore you weren't involved in the plan doesn't mean we went rogue," I replied.

"So what do you call people who decide to disregard the mission and do whatever they want? Without telling anyone." Linus pointed out.

"Some people knew where we were going," I admitted.

"Oh, really who? Cause that's not the phone call I got."

"They called you?" I paused, causing Linus to hit into my behind.

"Yeah, while I was undercover with Benedict."

"I'm sure he loved that," I replied sarcastically.

"Yes, he was thoroughly enjoyed that I considered the call more important than him," Linus shot back imitating my sarcasm. "But that's not the point. The point is it might have blown my cover."

"Did it?" I asked pointedly.

"No of course not."

"Good, then you have nothing to worry about."

"But you can't just run off and not tell anyone where you're going!"

"Rusty knew and so did Livingston," I replied angrily.

"Yeah, that's why I got a call from them and I had to calm Rusty down."

"What about Rusty?"

"He was worried about you, and quite frankly so was I. He was gonna tear apart the casino looking for you."

"He was?" I asked in shock.

"We all were. This heist wouldn't work without you. You're the heart of it and without the heart. It wouldn't work."

"Did Rusty say that?" I asked, still imagining Rusty in hysterics looking for me.

Linus stopped and watched as Danny and Abby continued on without him. "No," he whispered. "I did."

"Hey, Linus either you start crawling you're gonna miss out on the biggest heist of the century!" I called after him.


	30. Chapter 30

"I guess that's my cue," Rusty sighed as he watched Saul fake a heart attack on one of the security cameras. The thing about having an old person fake a heart attack. It doesn't take much. All the old person has to do is basically say they are having a heart attack and people think it's legit.

But being that your in one of the biggest and most extravagant casinos in the world, people may be less likely to believe it. Especially since they dealt with liars and card readers everyday, some personnel have been trained to read faces.

So, you can't just choose some old man off the street and pay him a couple mil. It has to be someone who can actually pull off having a heart attack and faking death in front of a large group of face readers. That person was Saul. The guy has faked his death as various covers more times than can be counted. When the heist called for someone to fake their death, they called Saul.

The guy burns through more covers than most people in a lifetime. Since the average amount of covers people have in a lifetime is ten. Though that doesn't include spies and thieves like us. Were not counted in that study because it would arouse suspicion in the government as to why the study had such high numbers.

"Don't do anything stupid," Livingston warned as Rusty headed the door.

"Like what? Go after the woman I love?" Rusty joked.

"That would be very stupid," Livingston called after him.

WITH ABBY

The tunnel reached it's end with a very significant drop. "Now what?" Linus asked.

"What do you think this is for?" I asked pointedly as I threw him a harness connected to black repeler rope.

"I thought this was only in the movies," Linus admitted as he strapped the harness around his waist.

"I'm sure you thought air vents were also just something spy movies used to liven up the plot," I joked.

"That's how you got here?" Linus asked in awe.

"What did you think we just crawled through?" I asked pointedly.

"A garbage shoot or something."

"Oh, brother," I sighed. "Who would have thought Bobby Caldwell's son didn't believe in air vents."

"I believe in air vents, I just didn't think people crawled through them as a hobby." I glared at him. "Or for work," he added.

"So let me get this straight Danny, you've been in on the heist the whole time?" Linus asked changing the conversation.

"Don't believe everything you see kid. The best thieves are actors whose career never took off," Danny advised as he strapped his harness around him.

"So am I the only one that believed the whole thing about you going rogue?" Linus asked angrily in disbelief.

"Well, Livingston didn't know if that helps you feel better," Danny offered. "I had to know if I could trust you, plus my first heist your old man pushed me in the pool and I've been trying to find a way to get him back for it."

"Why couldn't you have stole a Monet or something from him instead of keeping me in dark?"

"Because I already stole a Monet from him a couple years ago and it was way too easy," I admitted.

"So, your also an art thief?" Linus asked me confused.

I shrugged. "I'm your-I'll-do-anything thief. We get more work opportunities."

"Are you guys ready or do you want to explain every thief there is to the kid?" Danny asked as he hooked the magnet from his harness to the ceiling. Linus and me muttered an affirmative as we hooked our harnesses to the ceiling. We quickly prepared ourselves for the long drop that was about to come.

WITH RUSTY

People were gathered around Saul when Rusty arrived. It was probably the first time that someone had a heart attack there, Rusty thought as he made his way through the crowd.

"Someone called for a doctor?" Rusty asked lugging a big metal case behind him. The crowd backed away as Rusty sat on the floor next to Saul and opened the metal case. The case revealed a wide array of medical equipment. He pulled out his stethoscope and put it to Saul's chest. He heard a heartbeat, which meant that Saul was faking it and it wasn't a real heart attack. But Rusty couldn't let the growing crowd know that.

"He's gone," he said as he hung his head in shame. The crowd gasped in shock. Two paramedics hurried in with a stretcher. Only they weren't just any paramedics. They were Virgil and Turk also undercover.

"You're too late, guys. He's gone to his eternal home," Rusty told them as he pulled off his medical gloves.

"I told you to hurry," Virgil blamed Turk as they loaded Saul onto the stretcher.

WITH ABBY

"You ever repelled before?" I joked as I watched Linus sweat.

"No, is it bad?" Linus asked nervously.

"Have you ever been on the roller coaster Fahrenheit at Hershey Park?"

"Nope."

"Then brace yourself cause your about to have the greatest thrill of your life," I laughed. The lights began to flicker and eventually they shut off altogether. That meant Basher had hit the detonator on the pinch once again, giving us the cue to drop 4 stories.

"On the count of three," Danny said in the dark.

"1," Danny started.

"2" I echoed.

"Oh God!" Linus finished as I hit the button on his harness the same time I hit mine, sending us falling ten stories.

There was the sound of rope stopping mixed with the sound of a thud. I smiled as Danny and me simultaneously hit the button again allowing me to descend to the ground.

"We always make the newbie's rope a little longer to remind them they're not a real thief," Danny explained, as he helped him off the ground.

"As if I could forget," Linus groaned. "I could have died!"

"About that," I laughed awkwardly. "Remember how I told you it was ten stories."

"Of course, that's what's been going through my mind for the last few minutes!"

"Well, it's actually only a four story drop and to let you know you wouldn't have died, we added extra padding in your harness for when you hit the ground."

"Oh, thanks it's so reassuring you obviously care for my welfare to add extra padding," Linus replied sarcastically.

"Good news for you is that now there is something to look forward to," I reassure him.

"Really what's that?" Linus asked.

"Next time you won't need the extra padding."


	31. Chapter 31

WITH ABBY

Have you ever tried to open a closed elevator without hitting the elevator button? If you have then one of three things has probably happened. One, you look stupid. Two, you don't get it open. And three someone calls security.

When you're a thief you know how embarrassing it would be to try to pry open an elevator door. The people who made elevators made them specifically to not be opened that way by a normal person. But luckily some very smart man (who I cannot name due to the fact it would deeply ruin his historical reputation) created some handy gadgets for thieves such as us. Small explosives work, though they can be noisy. Crow bars sometimes work depending on the type of elevator. This elevator we had climbed into from the elevator shaft was the crow bar kind.

I watched as I let Danny and Linus do the hard work of prying open the doors.

"Seriously, she's not gonna help?" Linus gestured toward me, as sweat poured off his forehead. Danny looked back at me, and smiled.

"She has her own job coming up soon enough." I nodded, knowingly. Danny and Linus pried open the last piece of metal to reveal what to any other people would be an ordinary hallway. But we all knew better. The vault at the end, guarded by the trained security running toward us, armed with big guns, meant a whole lot more. It meant we were close. Closer than we'd ever been to the two things we craved more than anything. The two things this whole plan was based on. Revenge and my mother's love for my father.

"Put your hands over your heads!" the guards ordered Danny and Linus, and they complied. I was still in the now unworkable elevator, crouched down in a place they couldn't see me, biding my time till I was needed.

"State your reason for being here gentlemen," the harsher one said. Danny laughed.

"Is there something funny sir?" the other guard asked pointedly.

"Nope, but there's about to be." Danny replied, as I threw two metal containers of chloroform around the corner. The gas quickly filled up the air, causing a cloud of fog around the whole area. The fog eventually cleared to find two unconscious security guards and a shocked Linus.

"What did you think my job was gonna be?" I joked to Linus as I walked past him.

"But why didn't-"

"You and Danny get knocked unconscious as well? See, that's the thing if you take the antidote before inhaling, it doesn't affect you." I explained like I would a child.

"But how did we-"

"Get the antidote?" Danny finished. "Thieves have a habit of slipping certain drugs into people's drinks."

"Injections work too, but well there painful. We figured that even though you're the newbie, we'd give you the drug in your drink. Your actually really lucky we like you. Most newbies get the injection," I admitted.

Linus looked at us. "You know something is wrong with you guys."

"Your just mad you didn't figure it out," I scoffed as we headed toward the vault door.

"There's a Chinese man with a hundred sixty million dollars behind that door. Let's get him out," Danny advised.

"If he made the jump," Linus reminded him.

"Believe me, he made it or we would having this conversation from a jail cell," Danny replied, as he slapped the wall, waiting for the conversational slap back. A couple seconds later, a similar slap was heard.

"Okay, now's where the fun starts," Danny sighed as he pulled out a long wire connected to a detonator. We both helped him attach it to the vault door. Once we were done Danny slapped the door twice, and was greeted with two slaps back.

"Counting down from twenty-" Danny said looking at his watch. "Now," he finished hitting the detonator button.

WITH LIVINGSTON

The man wiped his sweaty forehead for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. He was nervous. But then again he was always nervous. He couldn't remember the first time it started, but being in any stressful situation made him nervous. Which caused the sweating. Surprisingly it actually got better after his mental breakdown in the middle of an operation working for the CIA. Sadly, he wasn't able to show off his new improvement to his boss, since he was fired directly after, cause of questionable mentality. But that just opened up the job possibilities for him. Word gets around you worked for the CIA on surveillance and the next thing you know, some shady people are very interested in you. It just so happened he chose the right shady people, that wouldn't cause him to be put in any dangerous situations. That promise had been tested before, but never broken. The thieves felt his sweating problem was a small price to pay for top notch surveillance. Livingston had seen many different people in many different roles, in many different heists. But this was the first time an acrobat was involved. And since with acrobats come jumping, and with jumping causes a possibility of missing the landing. This caused Livingston to worry, which caused him to sweat.

"Yen better know what he's doing," he muttered to himself.

"He wouldn't be in this heist if he didn't," Rusty answered, as he wheeled Saul into the small surveillance room, with Virgil and Turk following.

"Did you find Abby and-" Rusty asked cautiously like he didn't want to know if the answer wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"They are both safe. I don't know how they did it, but knowing them it involves an air duct," Livingston replied.

"Oh, ok good. I was just wondering you know. Not that I was worried or anything. It's not like I didn't trust them or anything…" Rusty scoffed as he walked from the front of the crowd around Livingston's desk to the back where he silently celebrated that Abby and Danny were not dead or captured.

They all continued to hover over Livingston and watched the security footage as Yen readied himself for the jump and they all breathed a sigh of relief as he made it. Though Saul's briefcase had impeded him originally, it didn't stop the young acrobat from doing his job. Livingston had switched out the footage of the vault Yen was in and of the cameras outside the vault to footage from the previous night, so that no suspicions would be aroused by security upon seeing Yen or the others. But it was when Yen started to back away from the door, that things got interesting.

"Guys, we may have a problem," Livingston's worried voice caused the room's tension to skyrocket.

"What kind of problem?" Saul yelled, visibly upset as everyone huddled around the monitors.

"Well, Yen's kind of-" Livingston grimaced.

"stuck," Turk finished with his face an inch away from the monitor showing Yen trying desperately to remove his bandage that was stuck in the soon to be blown apart door.

"Linus, can you read me? Linus, do not blow the door, you're about to kill Yen!" Livingston yelled into his microphone. He waited patiently, but got no response.

"Why isn't he responding?" Virgil asked confused.

"He must have taken out his ear bud or it got damaged," Livingston explained.

"Everybody cool down!" Rusty yelled ending the chaos that had ensued. "Okay, now Livingston what can we do to alert Danny and the others?"

"Nothing," Livingston admitted sadly. "It's up to them and Yen."

"Well then let's hope for a miracle cause within moments we may have a dead acrobat on our hands," Rusty said solemnly.


	32. Chapter 32

The vault door exploded with a huge boom. We all had taken refuge in the now broken elevator, but now we peered around to the corner to see a huge hole where the vault had once been. Danny and me shared a look. We were almost there. Everything we had waited so long for was almost within our grasp.

We stepped onward toward the hole, stepping over the debris associated with blowing up a vault. All of our faces were lit up as if we were about to rob the biggest casino in Los Vegas. Because truthfully we were. That's when me and Danny started laughing. Right then and there. We held each other and laughed.

"We did it!" I whispered.

"Not yet," Danny whispered yet as he released me.

Linus opened up a steal container similar to the one Yen had been contained in. And out popped Yen, except most of his hair was singed and sticking up everywhere.

"Where have you been?" he yelled, obviously annoyed.

"I thought he speaks Chinese?" I pointed out to Danny.

"He does, that's the only English he knows," Danny replied as he threw me a black duffel bag. I threw one to Linus and Yen and we packaged the money by a million a bag.

"This is more money I've ever seen in my life!" Linus said in disbelief fingering a group of hundred dollar bills.

"Whatcha gonna do with your part?" I joked as I threw Linus another handful of hundreds.

Linus stops and thinks about it. "Buy a house, maybe meet a girl, settle down," he answers honestly.

I snort. "What are you forty years old? I mean honestly, whatcha gonna do?" I asked genuinely interested.

"What I said," Linus replied putting his hands behind his head, leaning against the wall.

"Okay, then I know you'll get the house with the money, but what about the girl?" I joked.

"Can't I get her with that too?" Linus joked. I rolled my eyes.

"You could, but she wouldn't be your type," I replied.

"Really what's my type since you've got me all figured out," Linus laughed, intrigued.

"Blondes?" I questioned, laughing at Linus's grimace.

"Well aren't you particular," I laughed.

"It depends on the blonde," Linus shrugged.

"I see you've had a bad experience with one. But you don't care what she looks like, you love a girl for her personality, for the way she makes you laugh. Guys like you," I sighed. "They don't last long in this business. Remember when I convinced you to join the heist?" I asked reminiscing. Linus nodded.

"After this heist is over people will want you. They hear you pulled off the Benedict job and you'll be getting job opportunities left and right. It ruins you Linus." I said, my voice getting shriller and shriller, until I was crying.

"It becomes your life. It consumes you. All you do is sit around, wait till your next job opportunity, do the heist, and then it starts all over again. What others see as dangerous becomes routine to you. You literally are so obsessed you can't hold down a stable relationship. You are constantly lying about where you are and what your doing and you know someday in your heart they are gonna find out!" I sobbed, Linus put his arms around me and softly kissed my head. He knew that what I was saying was as much about me as it was about him. It was my whole life story poured into a long monologue.

"You know I thought maybe I'd quit after this," I said softly. "I haven't told anyone, but I don't love it anymore. It's like the spark that once was has died and I don't know how to unite again or if I want to." I admitted as I wiped my eyes. "I decided I was going to make some decisions during this heist about what I'm going to do with my life. But this heist seemed to confuse me more." Linus had been listening attentively the whole time. At times he nodded, but he never interrupted me, or called me childish for crying.

"Sorry, I'm sure it's like I just dropped a depressing this is your future bomb on you. I just needed to get it all out you know-" I rambled, embarrassed I had let him peek into my personal struggles.

"Stop," Linus said softly, as if to himself.

"God, it was so stupid of me to say anything," I continued, more to myself than him.

"Abby," Linus said harshly, causing me to stop abruptly. "Just stop," he said softening his tone.

"When I was a kid, most of the advice that my dad gave me was crap. But there's one thing that he said that was pure genius... he said, you tell her. Even if it's complicated, even if she loves another man, if it's real you tell her, cause you'll live your whole life wondering how you didn't get her when all you had to do was tell her."

"That doesn't sound like Bobby Caldwell," I joked, trying to make light of the situation.

Linus shrugged. "He was really drunk."

"That's probably why he said that. One of the only serious drunks I know."

"You know he used to talk about you. The thief prodigy, the princess bride, he used to call you. He said you brought life to everything you did. When you asked people to be in on a heist you charmed them into saying yes every time. I grew up with stories of you. That's how I fell in love with you honestly, through stories of a girl I'd never met. That's why I took the job, as soon as I knew you were involved there was no question in my mind. I know it probably doesn't matter, Abby. I know even telling you I still may never get you, my father's advice has never been foolproof. But I love you. I'm not dumb, I know you and Rusty have a thing. But I've loved a girl I only knew through stories for so long and after I met you the love only grew."

There was a long silence. I just sat there. I wasn't as stunned as I though I'd be. I knew the kid liked me, but I figured it was just a crush. But as I looked over at his pleading face I knew I had played him. I had led him on to believe we could be something more, just like I had done to countless men while undercover. But this time I hadn't been undercover, I had gotten so used to playing people I hadn't even realized I was doing it. At that moment I didn't know how I felt, about him or Rusty. It was like everything I had thought I was feeling before was a lie. Everything made sense and didn't make sense at the same time.

"I don't know," I said softly. "I just don't know anymore. Rusty-"

"So your basically choosing Rusty over me," Linus said angrily.

"I don't know who I'm choosing or if I'm choosing ether of you!" I replied back, getting just as angry as he was.

"I've known Rusty for a long time, he's my best friend and a long time ago he was my lover. And I'd be lying if I didn't admit that loving him was the best thing that ever happened to me. When we were dating it was the happiest time of my entire life. I'd be lying if I didn't say I will always love him for our times together, for our history. He has a power over me I can't deny, Linus."

We were both standing up now, across from one another, staring the other down.

"I'm sorry, but how," Linus turned away running his fingers through his hair. He turned back to face me. "How can that possibly be? The guy is a jerk."

"Well, that's easy for you to say," I replied taken aback.

"No, no. He is a jerk! He is a jerk. It's not a question. He is a jerk!" Linus continued.

"Your wrong Linus. Your wrong! He made mistakes and so have I. I like you Linus, do I feel that way about you? I don't know. But you won't get anywhere with me, bad talking Rusty."

That's when he kissed me. Passionately, beautifully, and wholeheartedly. I actually think it might have stopped my heart. We gasped as we broke apart, both shocked by the intensity of the kiss, and the chemistry that neither of us had expected.

WITH THE OTHERS IN SURVEILANCE

"Well that was a close call," Turk admitted as they all sighed in relief that Yen had backed away from the door.

"Can we agree that were not telling Danny about what almost happened?" Livingston asked, looking the others, who were nodding their heads. No one would want to tell Danny that the heist was almost ruined by an acrobat.

They all continued to watch as they began to fill the duffel bags with millions of dollars. Everyone was having conversations about how they were gonna use their share. From building a deck onto their house, to putting their mother in a home, to losing it all at the blackjack tables.

But Rusty wasn't listening, he was more focused on the one monitor no one was looking at. The one that showed Abby and Linus sitting against some metal storage containers talking. Rusty felt a pang of jealousy, and he felt like kicking himself for not being there with her instead of Linus.

Why had he and Danny given Linus that job anyway? Rusty was more skilled, why wasn't he the one who had forgotten about stacking the cash, and decided to have an in-depth conversation with Abby instead. Rusty sat down in a chair in front of the monitor as if in a trance.

"Livingston can you zoom this in?" he asked, his eyes still never leaving the monitor.

"Uh, sure is there something wrong?"

"Nothing to do with the heist, if that's what you mean," Rusty replied as Livingston zoomed it in to a closer up shot of Abby and Linus.

"I'll take your word for it," Livingston replied, skeptical as he turned back to the other monitors.

"Now come on Abs and give me a clue as to what your talking about," Rusty whispered. And boy did he get clues. He watched intently as tears rolled down her cheeks, something that he hadn't seen since they had broke up in the pouring rain. Though he hadn't really been sure if she had cried that night or if it was the rain.

That's when something happened that hurt him even more than watching Abby cry. The sight of Linus wrapping his arms around her. "This can't be happening," Rusty whispered to himself. There was the sound of a chair being thrown against the wall, causing the thieves to end their planning of how they spend their share of the millions. They all turned toward Rusty. Rusty was sweating profusely, his eyes still never leaving the monitor.

"Why would she let him do that? I only held her like that back when we dated, and now she gonna let some kid on his first heist hold her?" Rusty yelled. The thieves interest was now peeked as they joined Rusty by the monitor.

"Maybe she just needed to be held, you know how girls get. It probably doesn't mean anything," Virgil assured him, patting him on the back. Rusty didn't say anything and no one was even sure he had heard him. Soon the monitor showed he wasn't holding her anymore, instead they were almost at each other's throats in a heated argument.

"See Rusty, there in a fight. She's mad because he held her and alls right in your world," Turk assured Rusty, ignoring the fact that if Abby hadn't made it clear they were ancient history he would have been acting the same way.

"Your right," Rusty laughed, showing he had heard what the others had said. He stepped away from the monitor for the first time satisfied. He began to walk through the crowd of thieves happily.

"Uh, Rusty remember how I told you Linus holding Abby probably didn't mean anything," Virgil said reluctantly.

"Yeah, thanks for that buddy," Rusty laughed, as he walked back up to the monitor and patted him on the back. That's when he looked up a the monitor and realized what Virgil was getting at. Linus holding her had meant something. It meant she was unsure, unsure of who she loved. The monitor displayed Abby and Linus kissing. But this wasn't just any kiss, Rusty knew. It was passionate, it was everything. It was like the stolen kisses they had shared in the air vent. The hurt that he had felt before, was now anger. Anger at Abby for breaking his heart. For making him love her.

WITH ABBY

"Abby," Linus began, but Abby shushed him as she felt her lips. "Don't talk to me, were done talking," I said harshly, I headed back to the broken elevator, leaving the duffel bags there, to be brought out specially by Benedict's staff later on. Linus just stood there in shock like he had just been blindsided. Danny who had previously been filling duffel bags in the other vault rooms was smiling from ear to ear as he joined me in the broken elevator.

"He kissed you didn't he?" he whispered in my ear as Linus boarded.

"Shut up," I said as I put two wires together, causing an electric reaction, sending the broken elevator upward.

"Don't get caught," I reminded Danny as I hugged him quickly, knowing we were going to part ways.

"Not planning on it Abigail," he smiled, devilishly.

He got off the elevator and doors began to close, but I stopped them. I needed to tell him one more thing.

"Dad," I said for the first time since I was ten and I decided it would make me more professional if I called my parents by their real name.

Danny turned and looked back at me. "Get her back," I said, pleadingly.

Danny nodded and continued down the hall to a place where he could crawl into an air vent and get back to the room where Bruiser was supposed to be beating him to a pulp.


	33. Chapter 33

"Okay, were out of here," Livingston said as he took off his headphones and placed a sd card into his laptop so they could still have surveillance. Everyone started to break the monitors and destroy the evidence that they had been there. Rusty ignored the chaos around him and paced the floor nervously.

"Are you gonna be able to do this? We can always have someone else-" Livingston offered.

"No, Danny wanted me to do it and I'm doing it," Rusty assured him. "He trusted me with making the call and that's what I'm going to do."

"Your emotionally compromised, I'm sure Danny would understand," Livingston tried again.

"See that's the problem Livingston, I shouldn't be emotionally compromised. Thieves don't get emotionally compromised, they do the job and they get out. They don't fall in love with the boss's daughter. She played me!" He left the room, then came back.

"See, the first time I played her, shame on me. But this time she played me and I didn't even see it coming,"

"So is that still shame on you?" Livingston asked confused.

"Shut up Livingston," Rusty said harshly as he grabbed a burn phone and left the room.

WITH TESS

Everyone was going nuts. This was the second time the power had gone out during the match. As if they hadn't panicked enough the first time. This time the panic had escalated to anger that was directed at the man beside her. Her second husband, the owner of the biggest and best casinos in Vegas, Benedict.

"Honey, we need to get out of here," he said sternly as he took her hand and motioned for a security guard to guard them from the angered crowd. As they made their way through the crowd someone's cell phone began to ring. It was an old song and Tess and surprised that someone would use it as their ring tone. Frank Sinatra was not someone kids these days had even heard of. They would probably pick up and bad mouth the casino, letting all their friends know not to ever come to the Belliango casino ever again. But for some reason no one answered it and the phone kept ringing.

"Aren't you gonna answer it?" Benedict asked annoyed. That was one of the things they had in common. They both hated cell phones.

"I don't have a cell phone," she replied confused. He pulled her purse off her shoulder and pulled out a cell phone. Tess was extremely confused.

"It isn't mine," she confessed.

"See who's on the other end," Benedict ordered handing it to her. She hit the talk button.

"Hello?" Tess asked even more confused.

"Hello, Tess," Rusty's voice came through the phone.

"Oh, hello Rusty," she sighed relieved. "I don't know how you got this number, Abby must have got a new phone and accidentally put it in my purse. Abby's not here right now," she told him looking around for her.

"I'm not looking for her, at least not anymore," Rusty admitted sadly.

"Oh, did you two have a fight? You two are notorious for those type of things," Tess pushed.

"More like I found her kissing her ex-boyfriend," Rusty sighed, remembering Linus's cover from when they were testing him. Tess only knew him as Abby's ex-boyfriend.

"Well that does put a strain on your relationship doesn't it?" Tess joked. There was no response. "I should have known that wouldn't have made you feel better. But Rusty I can assure you she loves you. She's loved you since the day you first walked into her life and she's never stopped. Hold onto that."

"Thanks Tess, but I wasn't calling for Abby. May I have a word with Mr. Benedict, please?" Rusty said, remembering his job.

"You remember Rusty right Darling?" she said, handing over the phone. Benedict wrinkled his nose. He didn't remember anyone by that name.

"I'm sorry sir I honestly don't recall where I know you from," Benedict said into the phone.

"Well, your going to remember after this. You are speaking to the man who's robbing you."

Benedict went speechless and the phone dropped to the ground. Benedict quickly picked it up and put it to his ear as he pulled Tess along with him to the security room.

"Show me the vault footage," Benedict demanded.

"All normal," the man explained gesturing toward the monitor showing an empty hallway leading to the vault, with two security guards on either side.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken," Benedict laughed into the phone.

"You're watching your monitor? Okay, keep watching, and we'll see whose mistaken," Rusty replied. He looked at his watch and smiled. Livingston was switching the tapes. Soon Benedict would see his millions were soon to be lost.

Benedict watched the monitor in horror as he saw his guards bound and masked figures putting his money into black duffel bags.

"Find out how much money we have down there," Benedict demanded, hoping it wasn't as much as he thought it was. The man brought back the numbers and Benedict almost hit the floor.

"Alright. You've proved your point. You've broken into my vault. Congratulations: you're a dead man," Benedict said knowing they would never get far with whatever they had taken.

"Maybe," Rusty admitted.

"May I ask: how do you expect to leave here, hmm?" Benedict laughed, playing along with the game. "Do you believe I'll simply allow you to parade bags full of my money out my casino doors?" Benedict actually laughed at the idea.

"No. You're gonna carry it out for us," Rusty replied.

"And why would I do that?" Benedict laughed even harder.

"Take a closer look at your monitor…" Rusty advised. Benedict watched as a portion of cash remained untouched yet booby trapped.

"As your manager's probably already reported to you by now, you have a little over a hundred sixty million in your vault tonight. You may notice: we're only packing up about half that. The other half we're leaving in your vault, booby-trapped, as a hostage. Since human hostages creates a messy situation as we can both agree," Rusty joked. You let our eighty million go, and you get to keep your eighty. That's the deal. You try and stop us, we'll blow both cash loads." Rusty explained. That's when he felt a tap on his shoulder. His hand went cold as he turned around. He breathed a sigh of relief it was just Tess.

"Mr. Benedict; you can lose eighty million dollars secretly tonight or you can lose a hundred sixty million dollars publicly. It's your decision," he continued, looking directly at Tess.

Benedict slammed his fist into a desk and cleared the desk with his hands of all papers. Papers were sent flying to the floor as he vented his rage. He knew what he should do. He should let the money go. But that conflicted with what he wanted to do, which was stop whoever these people were and put them in jail making sure they never saw the light of day. Benedict sighed as he made his choice.

"Make the call," he ordered to the man who had shown him the video footage. Benedict watched as 911 was called and the operator was brought up to date on what was going on.

"Okay. You have a deal," he told Rusty, who was oblivious to the fact he had called 911. But Rusty was preoccupied with a fuming Tess.

"Where's Danny?" she demanded.

"He's fine. He wants you to go upstairs, and watch TV," Rusty assured her as he cupped him hand over the phone, so Benedict couldn't hear them.

"It's alright, Tess. I promise," he assured her, handing her the room key, while still cupping the phone making sure Benedict wouldn't hear.

"You have a deal," Benedict's voice reluctantly answered.

"Good," Rusty replied taking his hand off the phone receiver. "Here's what you do. By now the people in the vault have placed six black duffel bags outside the vault. Each sealed tight, each marked with an X. If they meet anyone, we'll blow the money in the bags and the money in the vault.

"Get security down there," Benedict ordered cupping the phone, so Rusty couldn't hear. Security reached the vault and found what Rusty said to be true.

"The elevator will rise to your cages. Six of your guards will pick up the bags and carry them out into the casino," Rusty ordered.

Benedict watched on the security camera that his men did just that. No one really seemed to notice six security guards passing by with six black duffel bags. They were all too busy playing the slot machines.

"If they take more than twenty seconds to reach the casino floor or if there's any indication a switch has been made, we'll blow the money in the vault and the money in the bags," Rusty explained. A slot machine's winning sound rang out behind him, allowing Benedict to hear it through the phone.

"He's in the casino right now!" Benedict yelled angrily not even bothering to cover the phone, as he urged one of his men to pull up the surveillance tapes of the casino.

"Of course, I'm in the casino. In fact, I'm staying in your hotel. And I have two words for you: mini-bar." Rusty joked. Both statements were true, especially about the mini-bar. Abby and him had passed out drunk at it a couple nights before, leaving a mess of what had been the mini-bar. "Now as soon as your guards hit the casino floor…" Rusty explained, back to business.

"A white unmarked van is going to pull up in your valet station." It was happening just as Rusty said it was.

A white unmarked van pulled up in front of the casino. It idled outside, it's windows tinted black making the people in it unrecognizable. The security guards swarmed around it, but maintained their distance.

"Your guards will load the bags into the van's rear. If anyone so much as approaches the driver's door, we blow everything," Rusty explained. The guards carried out the money and loaded it into the trunk, trying to catch a glimpse of the driver, but realized they couldn't. They closed the van doors. The van departed from the valet station, being tailed closely by five sedans. Meanwhile, a SWAT team van arrived and unloaded it's squad.

"Now what?" Benedict asked annoyed.

"Now, when I get word that the van hasn't been followed, that the money is secure, my people will exit the building, and once their safety is confirmed, you'll get your vault back," Rusty smiled, as he waved to the security camera.

A man mouthed to Benedict that was the SWAT team was there.

"Sir, I have complied with your every request, would you agree?" Benedict pushed.

"I would," Rusty played along.

"Good. Now I have one of my own requests," Benedict explained.

"Yes?" Rusty asked, not showing he was curious as to what he would say.

"Run and hide. If you get picked up next week buying a $100,000 sports car in Newport Beach, I'll be supremely disappointed. Because I want my people to find you. And rest assured: when they do, they won't hand you over to the police. Run and hide. That's all I ask," Benedict laughed evilly as the line went dead.

"Our guys say the van is headed toward McCarran Airport," the man explained.

"Get everyone in position. I want my vault back before that van hits the tarmac!" Benedict demanded. The SWAT team crowded into an elevator on their way to the vault. As they made there way there Benedict watched as they cleared the area and made sue no one else was there other than the bound and unconscious security guards.

Suddenly there was a loud boom that rocked the vault and caused the SWAT team to head for cover. After the smoke cleared the SWAT team returned to the vault to see the source of the boom.

"What's the situation down there?" Benedict demanded, his face red with rage.

"They blew it. They blew the money. All of it!" the SWAT team leader cried.

"Tell them to take the van. I'm going down there. Find out how they fiddled with our cameras," Benedict ordered as he undid his tie and left the surveillance room.

Benedict arrived at the vault to find that what the SWAT leader had said was correct. They didn't just blow up the money, they blew up everything. All the jewels or personal items being held there were destroyed.

WITH THE VAN

The sedans that had been tailing the van, now cornered it. They forced it to pull over and then swarmed the van

"Out of the van now! Hands up!" the SWAT leader demanded over a megaphone. An frightened employee from the office they pulled up in front of walked out of the building to see what was going on. He was met with a dozen machine guns pointed in his direction. The man quickly returned to his office.

The SWAT team leader approached the van, he quickly pulled open the driver's door and was met with… emptiness. There sat a video camera that was mounted at eye level. The leader stood there confused as he looked through the van. That's when he spot it, an antenna. The van suddenly lurched forward signaling the leader to get out. The van was being remote controlled by Virgil from his laptop.

"Look at them!" Virgil laughed as he watched the men scatter away from the vehicle. "This is the best part of the whole heist!" He cheered.

"It's my turn Virgil! You steered it the whole way from the casino!" Turk argued.

"So what?" Virgil replied.

"So it's my turn!" Turk yelled as he tried to take the laptop away from Virgil.

"No! No, it's still my turn!" Virgil yelled. Suddenly, there was a sound and they stopped fighting to watch the monitor as one of the doors was blown off and the SWAT team leader was sent flying backward out of the van. The SWAT leader looks at his chest where a flyer for a call girl agency had landed when he was sent flying from the van. He looks around him and sees many of the same flyers lying around him. Puzzled he looks in the van to see that all the black duffel bags are not filled with money, but call girl advertisements.

Both brothers sat down in the van looking straight ahead. Then they looked at each other. "That was awesome man!"

"Awesome? That was freaking amazing! Did you see that guy's face? He was so scared I think he crapped himself!" They congratulated each other.

"Mr. Benedict…" the SWAT team leader said reluctantly into his radio.

"Yes?" Benedict replied, hoping it was good news.

"We took the van," the man started.

"And?" Benedict replied, knowing it wasn't going to be good.

"They blew up the bags, sir."


	34. Chapter 34

Author's note: I know this chapter has been a long time coming, but i wanted to make sure I got it all right. There is a few huge susprises let out about Abby's past! I really hope you like it and that you'll continue to follow what will be a series someday(I hope). I hope that Abby was given more character depth. So, if you did read this good for you, but you really should be starting the story now! Please review and tell me how you like it!

"Sir... Sir…" one of the security guards yelled as he dropped the phone and ran toward Benedict, who was standing holding his cell in shock.

"What, Walsh?" Benedict snapped as his hand holding the phone shook.

"They say it doesn't look like there was any money in the bags, sir."

"What?!" Benedict yelled as he threw the phone at the wall. Causing the attention of all his staff to be directed at him.

"They say the bags were filled with fliers. For hookers," the guard continued, doing his best to keep a straight face, but it wasn't good enough for Benedict.

"Do you think this is funny?" Benedict asked, getting into the man's face.

"You must admit sir, they must be professionals to outwit the biggest casino in Los Vegas," the man responded, making sure to add the biggest casino part, boosting Benedict's pride in the casino.

"Professionals," Benedict muttered, as it jogged his memory. Tess's ex-husband Danny was a professional thief.

"Walsh, cue up the tape of the robbery," Benedict demanded. The man rushed to his control board and put the footage on the screen.

"Does it say 'Bellagio' on the south wall of the vault?" Benedict demanded.

"No, sir. It doesn't. I-I don't understand…" Walsh stuttered.

"We had that installed on Tuesday. The image we saw of the men robbing us was a tape!" Benedict yelled, as he walked by a desk an cleared all the papers off it in anger.

"Someone built a double of my vault, then made a tape of them robbing it. When we saw them putting money in those bags, that wasn't actually happening" Benedict yelled, absolutely furious.

"Then sir... what happened to all the money?" Walsh asked confused.

WITH ABBY

I smiled as I picked up one of the black duffel bags that surrounded Linus and me. The ride down the elevator was an awkward one for sure. The guy next to you just confessed he's had a crush on you since he was a little kid and he gave you one of the best kisses of your life. The silence was deafening as it filled our ears. I knew he was waiting for me to say something. Something that would change our relationship into something more, but I just couldn't. It was like all the words choked me and when they do that, you just know that maybe they aren't meant to be said.

"Your dad always loved to tell stories. He was the best storyteller I ever met." I said softly, being taken back by the memories of past times. "Back when he was still in our gang, he would have us in a spell as he told stories of his past heists. The people he met and places he'd been. Your dad had been a thief for a long time before us, and we always were in awe of him."

"Why'd he leave?" Linus asked, softly, deep in thought. "He would never tell me."

I smiled as tears glistened in my eyes. "Because of me. He loved me and I-" I paused. "I loved him back. But when there's twenty years between the man you love, it's like your waiting every second for what you have to end. It was inevitable and improbable, and everything that shouldn't be."

"But it felt right?"

"To us it seemed like the most right thing in the world," I whispered as I looked at him, tears streaming down my face.

"What happened?"

"Your mother did," I replied, smiling sadly.

"Your father always loved the park, to sit and feed the ducks, read the newspaper on a bench. One day I saw him with her. A woman his age with this fire and life in her eyes that I had seen in only one person before her."

"Who?"

"Me. It was love in her eyes and I saw that there was the same fire burning in his when he looked at her. And I just knew, without any words spoken that we were done. Our secret fairytale romance had ended and it was like it had never begun. The only people who would remember it was us." I said softly.

"What happened then?"

"I told him that I didn't love him anymore. I felt that it was fitting that a relationship that started with a lie, would end with one."

"And now you've come along and I realized that if I said yes to you and we tried to make this work, I'd be doing what your father did to me. And I would never wish that on anyone, especially his son." I cried as I hugged him.

"Did you ever stop loving him?" he whispered in my ear.

I smiled. "Yes, the moment I saw you. Your parents had been married for a few years and one day they passed by my house with a baby carriage. Your mother never knew about me or your father's past. I simply asked if I could see their baby and as soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew I had made the right choice. All the love I'd had for your father was gone. Your mother asked how we knew each other and we both replied, we used to be good friends. Before they left with you, I hugged your father and whispered in his ear, that we'd both made the right choice."

"And Rusty?"

"Part of the love triangle and the only man I've ever loved since Bobby." I smiled. "He is everything I thought I never wanted. But I've realized that everything I never wanted is now everything I want. But most of all I want it with him."

WITH DANNY

"How'd it go?" Bruiser asked as he pulled Danny from the ceiling vent.

"Let's just say your very close to getting your cut," Danny smiled devilishly.

"Good," Bruiser replied as he threw a punch right into Danny's nose.

Danny fell back in shock and held his nose in agony. "No wonder they call you Bruiser," Danny laughed, as Benedict threw open the door.

Benedict groaned as he saw Bruiser's bloody knuckles and Danny's beat up face.

"Were you involved in this?"

"In what?" Danny asked confused, as Bruiser gave him another punch to the jaw.

"Enough, let me here the man speak," Benedict ordered. Bruiser retreated to the wall, grabbed a rag, and began to clean his hands of Danny's blood.

"If I find you were involved in this in any way-"

"Is someone gonna tell me what your talking about or do you normally torture people without reason?"

Benedict sighed and ran his hand threw his hair, as he paced back and forth.

"Fine, just… just get him out of here" Benedict stammered unsure of what to do.

WITH TESS

This was crazy, why was she listening to what Rusty said. Or to what Danny had said earlier. All they had ever did was lie to her. The phone rang, causing her to jump and peer around the corner to discover a burn phone. Something she had become familiar with, due to Danny's line of work.

"Turn to channel 88," Rusty's voice instructed.

"Rusty, what's going on? You expect me to play along and just wait here-" Tess started to chew Rusty out as she turned to the channel, but stopped as she saw what they wanted her to see. The channel was linked to a camera set up by either the thieves or Benedict's security. It showed a brutally beaten Danny being led away from a room she had never seen before. In fact he was being led through a hallway she had never seen before.

"You get robbed or something, Benedict? Geez, that's a shame," Danny's voice cracked as he laughed. Benedict was at the end of the hallway looking at his feet, but Danny's comment made him look up.

"Hold on," Benedict ordered, and the guards halted. "Are you implying that you have something to do with this Mr. Ocean? Because as you can assume I am not happy to part with my money."

"What would you say if I told you could get your money back if you gave up Tess? If it was as simple as giving up your third wife, would you do it?" Danny asked, starring into the camera that was capturing everything and transmitting back to Tess. Who sat on the floor staring at the TV in shock.

The man that never stopped loving her and the man who had just started if he did even do that. The decision Benedict made would determine hers.

"What would you say?" Danny demanded.

Benedict looked conflicted at first and then he said the sentence that Tess never believed would come out of his mouth. "I would say yes."

"Well, that's very interesting," Danny admitted a little surprised himself at Benedict's answer. "but I didn't have anything to do with it."

Benedict sighed as Danny had just wasted valuable time. "Escort Mr. Ocean to the exit. And contact the police. I would imagine Mr. Ocean is in violation of his parole," Benedict instructed, knowing even if he couldn't get him for robbery, he could get him for violating his parole. Any jail time no matter what the charge felt like payback enough for Benedict.

Benedict sighs as walks to the casino floor and hits the button for the elevator. He doesn't have to wait long, but who he sees on it surprises him. But what surprises him more is that she pushes past him without a word.

"Tess? Darling what are you doing?" he asked confused as he follows her to the casino doors. She didn't look back as he called after her, she only stopped when he grabbed onto her suitcase that she had packed in a hurry.

"You of all people should know, Terry: in your hotel, there's always someone watching," Tess stated as she pushed the glass revolving door, separating them forever.

She ran out into the pouring rain and searched the parking lot for any trace of him. Any trace of the man she loved and who never stopped loving her.

That's when she spotted him, Benedict's men had indeed called the cops like they had been instructed, fore Danny was being put into a police car, his hands behind his back when their eyes met.

"Wait! For the love of all things holy wait," Tess choked as tears streamed down her face. The cops must have seen how desperate she was so they let Danny have a moment with her, never taking their eyes off Danny in case he got any ideas.

"Danny...I'm sorry," she cried as she kissed him hungrily as if she had been starving for him. In a way she had been.

"I knew what I was doing," Danny grinned as they parted.

"I didn't," Tess replied. "I was confused, but I'm not anymore. Everything is so clear. I should have known when I couldn't throw this away," she said showing him their wedding ring on her finger. "I should have known then, it would have saved us and our daughter a lot of grief."

"But you would have never known. You would have never known what was out there besides me and now you know. Don't regret it, I don't," Danny assured her as they hugged.

"You think she'll ever forgive me?" Tess asked, her face in his coat. Danny knew they were talking Abby.

"She already has. She wanted you back as much as I did. She'll need her mother now, more than ever."

"She'll blame me for your jail time, that girl always found a way to blame me. Though I can't blame her, am I always this easy to blame?"

"It's just where it lays honey," Danny joked. She hit him in the stomach playfully. "But seriously," Danny replied as he wrapped her in another hug, "she'll come around, she always does. That girl knows how to adapt, just tell her it's some extra mom time to make up for the time you were gone. But I have to warn you some changes have occurred since you last saw her."

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that. Is she dating another biker? I don't know if I could handle another one of those," Tess joked, though she was somewhat serious.

"If you see Rusty as a biker," Danny snorted.

"I knew it! Those two you just can't keep them apart!"

"Believe me I've tried! Keep an eye on him for me until I get back," Danny instructed. The police motioned for them to start to wrap up their goodbye.

They kissed once more, even more passionately than the last. They started to put him in the car.

"Danny, this time I'll be waiting! I promise," she yelled, as tears streamed down her face.

Danny grinned from ear to ear. "You should ask Abby about Rusty and the air vent," he replied as he winked.

WITH ABBY

"Grab a bag boys cause Christmas just came early this year!" I joked as Linus and me threw the bags filled with money at their greedy feet. Money filled the air of the safe house that happened to be down the street from the casino. I'd love to see Benedict's face if he saw how close his money was to him and what it was going to be used for. We all had our plans. Some were predictable, like paying off collage loans, putting money in bank accounts with different banks so it doesn't look suspicious, or investing in the stock market. Some were a little out there, like buying a zoo or bribing your kid's way to Harvard. As I money swirled around us, that's when I realized it. Someone was missing. Someone I needed more than anyone in that room.

I made my way through the madness and chaos over to where Livingston was gathering up his share of the money off the floor.

"You did a great job Livingston!" I said as I grabbed the back of his suit and shoved him against the wall. "Now tell me where Rusty is," I said my eyes full of rage. His face was full of fear as he tried to struggle.

"He made me promise," Livingston protested.

"Well, he's not the one who took anatomy in high school and knows what bones to break and which not to," I threatened.

"Ok, ok," Livingston agreed, his hands in the air in surrender.

"He said to shut off communications. That he had unfinished business and not to worry about him," Livingston explained.

"When was this?"

"I got the message right before you guys came with the money," he said, but I was already heading out the door.

"Abby, wait there's more," Livingston stopped me outside. He took a deep breath. "He's still in the casino."

"WHAT?" I yelled. "I thought everyone cleared it!"

"He doesn't want to Abby. He's doing it for you."

"And what exactly is he doing?"

"He's making sure that Benedict never bothers you ever again."

"Hey, what's going on guys?" Turk asked, as he and the others walked outside to the sidewalk where we were standing.

"Is that what you guys think? That I want Benedict dead?" I yelled. There was silence among them.

"The guy ruined my parents marriage, ruined my family, got my father sent to jail once for harassment, and now today for violating parole! Do I hate the guy? With everything I am!" I laughed throwing my arms into the air.

"But do I want him dead? No, I would never wish the death of a human being, not even if he is the most spiteful person on the planet! We don't kill people! If we wanted to do that we would have become assassins. Lord knows we've all been tempted by offers and it would pay better. But killing is not in my nature, and it's not in any of ours."

They all stared at me blankly. "Basher, for instance," I said pulling him from the crowd with me, and turning to face the others. "This man has an obsession with blowing things up. Could he have become the next terrorist?"

"Absolutely!" Basher agreed, a little too enthusiastically. There was an awkward silence.

"Anyway, but he would never do that and neither would any one of us. We take revenge on people that deserve it. We take their money and their precious jewels, not their life. And you know why?"

"Why?" Virgil asked.

"Because we know what they value more than anything and I can guarantee it is never themselves. We get their livelihood and ruin their name, because we can and they deserve it. I thought I'd never say it but, we've done enough to Benedict. He lost his money, his good name, his casino-"

"And me," a familiar voice said from behind me. I spun around to see her. My mother.

"He got you," I whispered in shock. She nodded, and I ran into her arms. When we finally broke apart, I knew what I had to do.

"Which is why I have to go save my arch enemy from the love of my life."

"Wait, I'm confused here whose the love of her life?" Turk asked, still thinking it was himself.

"RUSTY!" Everyone yelled, annoyed that it had taken him this long to catch up.

"When did this happen?" he asked in shock.

I smiled. "A long time ago."


	35. Chapter 35

Author's note: Well I decided to make this one big, long chapter but I think you'll find it is worth it to read it. I really put my heart and soul into this one chapter because I knew in my heart how Abby felt. That is why it took me so long to update this story because it was a piece of me and a piece of Abby that no one has seen yet. This character started out without layers, as just a girl that I thought could make the readers laugh, but she became more than that when I realized that the readers wanted something more. And I was unprepared to give you guys that but I did, and I'm glad I did. I have never been in the experience that Abby has in this chapter, but yet I knew how she felt and I put myself into it. I hope you love it!

There is always that part of the story you wish you could forget. But you can't because it's a part of you whether you like it or not. I've seen this moment in my life over and over in my mind. My memory of the next few moments of this story is so vivid in my memory that putting down everything that happened scares me. I'm scared that maybe I'll look down at the paper and realize it all never happened.

That it was all a bad dream and I'll look beside me, and there'll he will be. Laughing and smiling that same wonderful smile that kept me loving him all those years. Were in Paris with the Eiffel tower looming in the background because we both agreed it made us seem small to be too close to it. And thieves never like feeling small, we like feeling triumphant like nothing can touch it. But it can.

We're sitting on a bench in some park, with some French name that he can't pronounce. He looks at me gauging my reaction, then shrugs and throws birdseed all over us. The birds leap forth and peck the food off of us like were nothing but a fixture as I scream with laughter.

That moment in Paris happened a long time ago and yet it is still one of the moments I look back on, that I believe is my perfect reality. My Utopia if you will. But reality is hardly ever perfect and when it is it doesn't last.

The reality is that the next moments in the story is harsh for me. But every once in a while we need a harsh reality to wake us up to what really matters. If someone had told me this was going to happen I probably would have said it was a harsh reality that I didn't need, but looking back I did need it. Almost as much as he did.

We forgot what it would be like if everything didn't work out like we wanted. We got careless and we didn't even notice.

"Come on! Come on, turn green!" I yelled at the light. I closed my eyes hoping it would turn once I opened them, no such luck.

"What is wrong with you! Two people's lives are on the line you know! You can't just decide to turn green whenever you feel like it! At this rate, both of them are going to be dead and as much as I want one of them out of my life, I really want the other one in one whole piece. And by that I mean no pieces missing, like at all!" I continued my conversation with the stop light.

"You know what I don't care! So what happens if I run a red light? People do it all the time right? What's the worst that can happen? People get injured, possibly killed…" I admitted.

"But that's what gonna happen to someone I actually I love if I don't get there. So, person I love or people I don't know," I said weighing the two options with my hands. Thankfully I didn't have to decide cause the light turned green and I sped through the intersection.

WITH THE OTHERS

"You think she's gonna be mad?" Livingston asked cautiously, as he plugged in wires. Even though they had destroyed most of the equipment for surveillance, they still had the microphones in the casino that would pick up any sound, and transmit back to them.

"It's surveillance, it makes everyone mad," Virgil joked as he helped Livingston connect wires.

"Plus who says she has to know, unless someone tells her," Turk said, pointedly, staring at Linus.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Linus asked as he walked over to Turk, closing the space between them.

"We all know you've gotten closer to Abby during the heist. I'm sure you tell her all about your daddy issues and I'm sure she's told you everything that happened between her and me," Turk explained, undeterred.

"You and her? She doesn't even mention you," Linus shot back.

"What we had was special and whatever you and her think you had is nothing compared to our relationship. You're just a newbie wannabe thief and she took pity on you because of your name. But let me tell you, just cause your daddy was a big name in the thief business doesn't mean you can ride on his washed out name."

"Can you hear yourself? You're a child! Don't you realize that she didn't choose you and she didn't choose me! God knows I would have loved for her to choose me, but she didn't." Linus was yelling now. He looked down and saw he was holding Turk by his shirt, holding it up to his face. He let go slowly and brushed off Turk's shirt like it hadn't happened. "We aren't what she wanted," he finished softly.

WITH RUSTY

I sat down at one of the casino games nonchalantly and began to play. It was peaceful actually, being in a casino with no one around you. Just the sound of the machine ringing that you won or lost. But the sounds of the game didn't pertain to me, because no matter what happened in the situation that was about to transpire I was going to lose.

It's not like I hadn't prepared myself to lose, this had been my plan all along. But once you actually reach the crossroad and though you prepared yourself to make the one choice you can't stop thinking about the other option. I could leave, right now, walk out that door run across the street, and open the door to the safe house.

I would find Abby, she'd probably be dancing or laughing with someone, but I wouldn't care. I would walk up to her and kiss her. Just like that, just as passionately as she should be kissed for the rest of her life. In that moment I wouldn't care that she didn't feel the same. After it was over, my aching heart would be content, fore I would have done what I had been waiting so long to do.

It would be the end and the start of a new life, no matter what she felt. But the other option, the one I had to choose, that also was a life changer. I needed to kill someone in order to protect her. She would disapprove, I knew that, but she always loved to fight with me. Any simple decision from who was going to drive to how the car smelled. But this was a much bigger decision, it was a life or death one.

Not that I hadn't taken lives. We all had, but not like this. Shooting at others in our way had always been part of our job, but we weren't hit men. No one hired us for killing, they hired us for stealing. We weren't heartless though we had gone undercover as people that were. This would be easier if I were undercover. But I needed to do this as me.

I could see Benedict now. The man had just lost so much and all he could do was stare out the double doors that Tess had walked out of. He was in shock. He had lost his reputation, his money, his girl, and now his life. I got up from my chair and approached him from behind. He didn't even yell or shiver when I put the gun into his back. I almost thought he didn't know it was there until he said something that surprised me. "Do it."

"What?" I asked genuinely confused.

"We all know you want to do it. And I never thought I would want it, but after today I want it. I lost everything today and I'm never getting any of it back," Benedict said solemnly.

I didn't know what to say to that. My reluctance angered him. "If you won't be a man and do it, don't do it for yourself. Do it for that girl you love so much. What's her name?"

"Abigail," I said angrily pushing the gun further into his back.

"You know I'll go after her and her family if you don't. Life will be so much worse for her if you don't do it," he taunted.

That made me realize that I wanted to kill him for other reasons. It wasn't for Abby, she always knew how to take care of herself. It was to punish him. To punish him for everything he did to her family. But in that moment I realized that giving him life would be punishment enough. He had lost everything and he needed to see what life would be without those things. For that was true punishment. I lowered my gun.

"She doesn't want you dead, you know. After all you did to her and her family. You took so much from her and we returned the favor. Your life, that's one thing that doesn't deserve to be taken from you. You deserve to live a miserable life without all your millions and without the woman you stole. That is a far greater punishment than death," I said softly.

The next thing I knew Benedict ran over to the nearest fire alarm and pulled it. I put up my gun as the security guards flooded into the room with their guns drawn. No one moved, we just stared each other down, the fifty security guards and me. They didn't see me as a threat, at least not yet.

That's when I saw her. She was still in her dress from the party, her curls bouncing as she exited the elevator. She looked around the corner looking for someone and then that's when she saw me and the guards lined up ready to shoot. Half of the security turned to face her, then turning their guns on her. She looked at me, both knowing the next step that had to be taken. The one we had always tried to avoid. A gunfight.

"Put your hands in the air and no harm will come to you," one of the security guards ordered me to do. I nodded in agreement and raised my hands slowly.

"You too ma'am," another guard that was facing Abby ordered. She looked at me and smiled.

"You see I have this thing," she started, before she had even finished she had jump kicked the guard. "I don't listen to orders," she finished as bursts of gunfire filled the air. She ran for cover and made it to the end of the row of slot machines.

As soon as she kicked the guard I grabbed the guns of the unsuspecting security guards and flipped the barrels toward themselves and shot. That gave me enough of a distraction to run for cover as well. Abby was a isle over and I could see they were closing in on her. She needed a distraction, one that I could provide.

I pulled out of my pocket two tear gas bombs and threw them over. The sounds of screams were heard and I watched Abby appear over a slot machine. She walked on top of the machines to get to me and I opened my arms to catch her. She jumped without hesitation and I caught her in my arms. She looked at me expectantly and I smiled. I let her down and we started for the exit, but before we could even get out of the isle another group of security guards had covered the door. They started firing upon us causing us to take cover behind all the slot machines.

WITH ABBY

We we're trapped. It wasn't a new experience. Being a thief we are always caught in situations that could be classified under the category of trapped. When you were hired to steal a painting, a Monet or something expensive and the alarm goes off just as you take it off the wall. Or the person you are stealing from happens to come home too early. These are experiences you learn from, and prepare for.

"Remember how you always wanted to know where I carried my guns?" I asked as I lifted up my dress.

"Yeah," Rusty grinned.

"Well, you're about to find out," I replied. Normally hiding guns under your clothes isn't very hard. But when you're wearing a dress, that's a very different story.

I put my leg out and lifted the fabric enough to reveal that I had three silencer guns duct taped to my leg. Duct tape freaks the weapon scanner out and tricks it into thinking that I'm not carrying. But just three silencers won't get you through a gunfight. Much to Rusty's surprise I took off my platform shoes and revealed that the whole inside of the platform was hollow and hid enough ammo for 10 military guns. I reached into my bra and retrieved more smaller, deadlier guns. I took off my earrings and necklace and revealed they were all made of ammo.

Rusty looked at me in shock. "So, basically when we we're…" Rusty pointed at the air vent above us.

"I was carrying a lot more than I took off, don't worry none of them would have gone off," I assured him.

"How do you know? One of the trigger's could have been pulled-" Rusty fought, but he was interrupted by more gunfire. We both grabbed for the same silencer gun and our finger's brushed. We both hesitated and stared at the other.

"Guess we both have-" Rusty started, but he was interrupted by me kissing him. Passionately, like every movie couple had. Normally their was some dramatic moment leading up to it. It figures our dramatic moment happened to be with a gunfight happening around us.

We parted, both staring at the other. "Linus?" he asked, his eyes awaiting the hurt and rejection that would come with my answer. Being a thief he had come to expect the worse. Not that I could blame him. The question answer held both our future's. He knew his answer, I saw it in his eyes everyday, but I had seen it in them so often I had forgotten what it meant. I had forgotten what question they were asking. I had forgotten that they were asking a question at all. I had seen that look in so many eyes of men over the years of being undercover. I had forgotten what it meant when a man looked at you like that. I had forgotten that he still loved me.

He loved me, he always had, and he wanted to try to see if we could salvage what we had. Did I want that? It seemed like my whole life lead up to this moment. His eyes continued searching my face, for some sign of what my answer could be, but it was unreadable and that scared him.

I smiled and shook my head. "I left him for you."

Rusty started to say something, but I put my finger to his lips. "We'll finish this conversation later, right now let's get out of here."

He smiled back, grabbed one of the guns and began shooting at the security guards, his eyes never leaving my face. His shooting was erratic, sometimes we would hear a yelp of pain from one of them, but in that moment we didn't care.

We were snapped back to reality as the bullets started to come dangerous close. The casino had turned into a battleground and though we thought we were going to win it, inside we both knew that our chances were slim.

Suddenly, without warning the bullets stopped. Everything was frozen, with only the smoking of the bullet holes in the carpet making a sound. We took the stance you see people take in spy movies when the spy isn't sure what is around the corner. The one where they crouch against the wall and then when they feel that there is a possibility it might be safe to look, they spin into the entryway, gun drawn to meet their attacker.

We were at the crouching part of it, facing each other, each behind a slot machine. Rusty put his finger to his lips to signal me to be quiet. I nodded, and Rusty mouthed the numbers one through twenty. That was the number of seconds of quiet that a thief usually waited until he peered around the corner. He looked at me and I nodded. It was a good time as any to put our heads around the corner and see what was going on.

With that four second look, we got all the information we needed. We were surrounded. That's why it didn't surprise either one of us when we heard the sound of bull horn being turned on.

We had walked into a nightmare that thieves had, waking up with sweat causing their shirt to cling to their body. Except this time it was real. Once the bull horn comes on it means that there is no way out. Or at least not one where you don't leave in either a body bag or handcuffs. We had played with fire, we were fire benders, we knew all the little tricks to get what we wanted, but along the way we got careless and when you get careless you get burned.

We sat there side by side, each sitting against a slot machine, just sitting there in silence. That silence enveloped our souls as our hearts realized what our head knew all along. I knew it the moment I had walked in and saw the security guards. I had never taken on that many. I could have turned around; I could have walked out and left him. But I couldn't do that, not to him.

As soon as we heard the voice we knew that Benedict had hired a man to negotiate. Though it wouldn't be much of a negotiation. They had nothing to lose, and we, well we had everything.

"Okay, as you can see there is no way you are getting out alive other than if you surrender. Now Mr. Benedict has informed me he does not want to make this messy and would rather it be that both of you give yourselves up. There is no reason for any bloodshed. The D.A. might even be interested in a deal for information on your involvement in the loss of Mr. Benedict's money."

"You'll just have to kill us!" I yelled as I grabbed a machine gun and proceeded to fire at them. I shot a few of them before Rusty pried the gun out of hands. By that time, tears were streaming down my face and I was frantic. He held me against him, as my body shook with sobs. He stroked my hair softly, tears forming in his eyes as well.

"Rusty we gotta fight, we can't go out like this," I pleaded. "There has to be some other way!"

"Shhh," he whispered, as he kissed my head. "Listen to me," he pushed me from him to arms length, making me look into his eyes. "You are not going to prison okay. I'm not gonna let them take you. I'm going to turn myself in, in exchange for you to go free. I'm not going to let them ruin your life anymore Abs," he said out of breath. "Not anymore."

"There is no way that's happening," I scoffed as I tried to retrieve my weapon, but Rusty stopped me.

"Listen to me, when you went rogue we couldn't find you. I couldn't find you. It was the worse moments of my life because I love you, Abigail Ocean," he was still out of breath as he declared his love. "I'm not doing that again, I need to know your safe. That is the only way I can survive prison. We both knew it was just a matter of time before I ended up there anyway."

"No," I said softly.

"What?" he asked confused.

"I never thought that. You were good Rusty, really good," I choked on the tears.

"Hey, now no more of that. How am I supposed to know your okay, while I'm in prison if the last time I saw you, you were crying?" He asked pulling me close to him.

"I'm staying with you till they take you. Don't try to make me leave cause I can't. I don't care how long it is, I don't care if we just spend the time holding each other, I just want you to know I'll be waiting for you when you get out. And I have connections in prison so I'll know if you start flirting with a girl-"

"Never," he cut me off. "But seriously Abby, I need to go," he said as he unhooked my arms from his waist. He held my hand and dropped it slowly as he walked away, towards the chaos. "When will I see you again?" I called out to him. He turned around, tears finally spilling out of his beautiful green eyes. "Someday," he mouthed as he kneeled before them, with his hands over his head.

They swarmed him, obliterating my view of him. I wasn't able to see him as they took him away, the security guards made sure of it as they paraded him out like a common criminal. And you, the reader may point out the fact that he was.

And yes he was, but you then why are reading this if that's all you truly believed he was. He was so much more than that, just like everybody is more than what they do. Stealing was his profession and he did it well, a little too well. The first and last thing he ever stole were the same item. My heart. I heard him arguing with them for me to be set free. He must have won them over because the man got back on the bull horn and said I was free to go.

I knew that it was true as all the guard's guns were lowered, as I walked past them. I looked terrible, tear stains, sweat, and grime covered my body. But I was calm and showed no sadness as I passed by them. I had been trained since I was young that you never let your enemy see you break. T

hey hadn't seen me break, but they had heard it. They had heard our goodbye and I needed to be strong and walk past with dignity. I searched the faces of each of the guards. Some met my eyes and some looked down in shame. But one of them was different.

I saw it in his eyes that he knew. He knew what we had and a single tear made it's way down his cheek. He knew it was wrong. It was wrong to separate two people that much in love. I knew that he was the negotiator, the one that spoke into the bull horn. The one that had jumpstarted the nightmare. I put my hand on his shoulder, causing the line of guns to go up and point directly at me. But the man motioned for them to lower them again. "Do something for me," I said solemnly.

He nodded slowly, unsure what I would ask of him. "Go home, hug and kiss your wife. Remind yourself that you just separated the love of a lifetime."

They even opened the door for me and I stepped out into the rain. The pouring rain, enveloped me, and I cried. I broke down, but held myself up as I made my way across the street. To anyone that saw me that day, they would have never known the great things I had done. I was a professional thief that had seen more money and riches than any of them, but I had lost more than any of them. That they could tell.

This was not the face of a young girl, in that moment I looked like a woman. A woman that had been through many hardships and had experienced more of them than any person had any right to. I stood outside the safe house, just staring up at it. I was soaked with rain and tears. People passed by me and put up their umbrellas but I didn't need one. I wanted to feel it. To feel the rain upon my skin, like hurt pressing down on me.

I wanted to feel that moment more than anyone felt any moment in their whole life. If I didn't feel it then I wasn't human. I wanted to feel the rain, feel the pain of all the choices I had made that let up to the worst day of my life. I knew where he was going to be for the next few years, and I made my decision there in the pouring rain that I would be waiting for him. I was never one for patience that's why it was so hard to wait for Danny to get out of jail so we could get revenge. But I did it, and I would do it again.

My phone rang in my pocket. I almost didn't hear it with the sound of the rain hitting the pavement around me. I looked down at the phone and let out a sound of surprise. The call was from Nevada prison. It kept ringing and I finally answered it on the last ring.

"Hey hon, how you doing?" Danny's solemn voice resounded through the phone.

I told him everything, everything that had happened since he was taken. He hung on ever word, it being the last he would hear from me in a long time. At least in person, thieves have ways to keep in contact in jail, but it's not the same thing as listening to your loved one's voice.

"I just saw the men take Rusty in, and he didn't even put up a fight. Thought the boy make more of one," Danny admitted.

I sighed. "Danny, I want you to know that I love him," I blurted out. There was a short moment of silence on the other end, and then a huge laugh.

"He's the one isn't he?" Danny laughed.

I sighed in relief. "Yeah, he is."

"You both have tip toed around that fact long enough. Are you really planning to have a long distance relationship with him? Don't lead each other on honey. If you don't intend to work with him on your relationship you might as well make it known to him. One thing jail does is it gives you time on your hands. And when you have time on your hands you get to thinking and you start falling more and more in love with someone on the outside that over time is starting to fall out of love with you. I've seen it happen to the best of relationships," Danny advised.

"This is real Dad," I said using the term I hadn't used in a long time. "I know where he's gonna be in a few years and even if he has doubts I know where I'll be in those same years."

"And that is?"

"Waiting for him."


	36. Chapter 36

I knew that was the last time I would be talking to Danny for a long time. I wasn't good a goodbyes, that was the hardest part of being a thief for me. It wasn't the heavy lifting, gunfire, possibility of being killed or thrown in jail, or working with a group of highly trained thieves. It was saying goodbye, whether to your fellow thieves after having just performed a heist together that bonded you all together for the rest of your lives or to people that were in jail that chose you to be their last call before you lose contact for years. I heard the police officer in the background yelling for Danny to hurry up and that other inmates had to have their turn.

"I have to go honey" he said, and I could hear the sadness in his voice.

"But there is so much more to say! I have so much more to tell you" I whispered, tears streaming down my face.

"Abigail-" he started.

"I know, when you say it's time to go, no if's and's or but's. But I don't want this conversation to end cause then it's really over" I choked.

"What's over?" Danny asked.

"The story, the story of the greatest heist of all time. When you hang up it will be like closing the book and you'll be back where you started and-and" I stuttered.

"You won't" he finished. "I know, it seems like dejavu doesn't it? But only if you let it be that way. Don't change honey, because one of these days I'm going to be back and I will still want to come home to my little girl."

I smiled when he called me that. We both knew full well I hadn't been a little girl in a long time. It was easier then, not knowing what my dad's profession was or why there were mysterious men with building plans consistently in my living room. Little did I know one day I would join them, and one day, today to be exact, pull off the greatest heist in the history of heists.

"Take care of your mother, darling. Don't hold her past mistakes against her, remember you've made mistakes too. Don't get into too much trouble, cause if you do you know I'll hear about it…" They were trying to rip the phone from his hands at this point and I could hear the struggle.

"Dad! Dad!" I started screaming into the phone.

"And most of all Abigail Ocean, I love you!" was his closing words as the phone cut out.

I held the phone as my whole body shook. It was over, all of it. The heist was done and though there no doubt would be backlash it was over. No more planning, we had what we wanted. Or at least we were supposed to. Now, I had lost two people that that were worth so much more than the money. I had won my mother, but lost my father and the love of my life.

That's when I realized there was one more thing I could do. The heist would not be over till they were home. I would not feel whole, or like I had accomplished anything if they weren't beside me. That's when I knew that I would have to go and do the one thing I had promised myself I would never do. I'm the girl that stole from the highest security vault ever in the most security filled casino in the world, and I was going to have to see Bobby Caldwell.

I wiped my eyes, and knew that before I did anything I needed to see the rest of my team even if they wouldn't help me and I had to do it alone they needed to know. I walked the halls of the abandoned building preparing myself for what I had to tell them, or what they already knew. I pushed open the door, and there they stood all of them, hovered around a sound recording device that I was sure was transmitting from the place I had just left.

"Why can't we hear anything anymore?" Linus asked as he banged his hand down on the unit.

"I'm trying to fix it and that is not helping!" Livingston answered, sweating profusely as usual.

"Ahem" Turk cleared his throat and pointed at my wet figure in the doorway. They looked at me in awe, the mess I had become. They stared in silence, never had they seen me like this and quite frankly neither had I. Not when Danny got taken to jail the first time or when my mom started dating Benedict.

"What happened?" Linus finally got up enough courage to break the silence.

"You don't know?" I asked sincerely, gesturing towards the computer monitor.

"It cut out about thirty minutes ago. Where's Rusty?" Turk asked the one question they had all been asking in their brains since I had walked in alone.

Linus shook his head in realization of what his absence meant. "I'm sorry Abby. So sorry-" he reached out for me, but I brushed him aside.

"That's why I'm here for all your help. I'm gonna get them out, and not in twenty years."

"Abby there is nothing you can do now it's out of all of our hands" Reuben interjected.

"No, your right but I still I have one more card to play."

"You wouldn't" Basher whispered.

"I'm going to see Bobby Caldwell" I stated as gasps filled the room.

"Abs, you know he left this life. He wants nothing to do with any of us. He personally stated if he sees any one of us again were toast. If he even knows that Linus was in on this heist with us-" Turk reminded me as if I didn't know.

"Like I don't know that Turk. That's why none of you are coming with me. Bobby has a soft part in his heart for me and I have something he wants."

"I hate to break it to ya Abs but any chance of you guys working out left a long time ago" Turk pointed out.

"No, I know what she means. You have me." Linus stated. I nodded my head, this was going to work.


	37. Chapter 37

It didn't take long to create a good plan. Let's face it in a room of thieves it doesn't take long to figure out a way to fake a kidnapping. Not gonna lie we have all been involved in some way in some kidnapping plots, whether we were the driver, the napper, or well… the kidnapped. The last one happened every once in a while, but with the skills we each had acquired that made it next to impossible for someone to pull off. Which is why it normally was other disgruntled thieves that were hired to kidnap us, because as you all know by now we are in the "next to impossible" business. Anyway, the good thing about being kidnapped or having been attempted to be is that you learn the in's and the out's of kidnapping. Which you also could learn from CSI or your regular old fashioned crime show, but who doesn't want some hands on experience? We all grabbed our gear and were out the door with a list of demands, ready to be personally given by me, our hostage, and a plan.

"So is this your first solo mission?" Linus asked far too loud for my liking. I shushed him as I climbed the black rope up the wall. He was close behind on his own rope and I knew he had been staring at my butt the whole time we had been suspended in the air.

"Sorry" Linus whispered much more quietly this time.

"I was trained on solo missions. You ever hear of the Guape diamond?"

"Who hasn't?"

"Yeah, well that was my first solo mission and as you know it was pretty successful."

"Yeah, except for your shoe falling off and dropping from the airvent onto one of the laser beams and setting off the alarm" Linus laughed.

"A minor detail" I shrugged.

Livingston was already set up to take care of each security camera when we came to it so there was no fear of being seen except by maids. And well in case you didn't know maids aren't very loyal.

I had kept tabs on Bobby over the years and I knew that he wasn't a person that many people would be loyal to anymore. And yes, for a thief it is protocol to keep up with your past boyfriends, you never know when that information will come in handy. Especially if that information is that Bobby likes to give most of his staff and security the day off every so often. Of course hacking into his online schedule and changing that date from next month to this month on his calendar was an easy feet.

We entered the building from the roof, Linus and me. We climbed down our black ropes and landed in what was the grand hall. Yes, I will say it again the grand hall. Bobby wasn't in the thieving world anymore, but that didn't mean he wouldn't use the money he accumulated from it to live as extravagantly as possible.

"Ok, Linus this is where you come in" I said as I looked around for the exits we would need to use later. "Where would Bobby," I stopped myself. "I mean your dad be around this time?"

"In his study" Linus said gesturing down the hall.

"Okay, so here's the plan. I do all the talking, you act like the kidnapped person here. Follow my lead and do whatever I tell you to do. If you do that, maybe you'll stay alive" I said as I cocked my big military gun.

"Wait, wait a minute why are you acting like this is life or death when you're the only one with the gun? And why are you acting like I don't have a big part in this?"

I turned around and faced him. "Do you really want to know Linus? Maybe it's cause the man I love's life is on the line. As well as my father's. I don't need a newbie to screw up my future, my boyfriend's, or my father's. And it is life or death with me because I need them to live. If that means you think I will kill you to get what I want, so be it. We might as well look legit. And as for me, you have never seen me in your life. You were-" I paused. "Where does your father think you were gonna be for a month?"

"At college" Linus replied.

"Well it's good to know your actually getting a real education with us. Now, let's go" I said as I pulled a black ski mask over my face and pointed the gun at Linus, urging him to walk.

Linus put his hands up and if his look of shock was good enough to fool me it would be good enough to fool his father, the human lie detector.

We barged into the room where as expected Bobby was sitting reading a book. As soon as we barged in he jumped up from the chair, having grabbed a small gun from a hidden place in the chair and pointed it at me. He didn't know who I was yet. For all he knew I was just a kidnapper holding his son's life in his hands. But I knew what he would soon know I was much more than that to him.

"Put the gun down or his guts go all over this pretty carpet! Is that what you want?" I asked in my most macho many voice.

Bobby looked at me, then back at his son. "Who is it Linus? I know you know so you might as well tell me who is holding you hostage" he said, like a father afraid for his son's life.

"Honestly dad I don't know. I was blindfolded the whole ride here and when they snatched me!" Linus cried, with enough honesty to make the lie detector believe him.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" Bobby asked pointedly.

"How about you toss you gun out the window and I'll take off my mask so you can find out before I take the life of your only child?" I replied back in the same gruff voice.

Bobby looked down at his gun, nodded then proceeded to do as I asked. I smiled as I pulled off the mask.

"I guess you really did give up your thieving ways Bobby. If you were a thief you would have shot my brains out by now. Aren't I lucky you gave up our ways" I smiled at his shocked face. Honestly I don't think he could have been any more shocked if I had been the Easter bunny.

"Abby?" he questioned almost as if he didn't want to believe it.

"Yep, it's me. The girl you wronged back for revenge right? Well, you'd be wrong to think that cause actually I'm here for much more than that" I laughed as I poured myself a glass of wine with one hand, while still pointing my gun at Linus with the other.

"What do you want money? Cause I'm sure you have your own ways of getting that" Bobby replied still in shock.

"Your right. I do have my own ways of getting that. And those ways used to be your ways too" I reminded him.

"I'm done with that life, Abigail. I walked away and never looked back so if you want me to go back to that life I won't" Bobby answered.

I smiled. "As much as I miss our little escapades Bobby that's not what I'm here for exactly. I'm here for more of a favor concerning your new life."

"I don't like what your suggesting" Bobby said, staring into my eyes.

"Well, do you like what I am suggesting by holding a gun at your son?" I pointed out. "I'm sure you know by now because let's face it you always were the one to keep tabs on everyone. And I'm sure you had to be even more in-depth when you left that life just in case any of us decided to come into your life again. And I don't blame you, if I did what you did I'd do the same thing."

"You know I had no choice. It was me or the team-"

"Don't act like I don't know what the choice was!" I cried, firing a warning shot at the ceiling. "Let's not forget I'm the one holding the gun here. And I have no problem killing off your offspring Bobby."

"You know I never meant to hurt you, Abby."

"Don't lump what happened between you and me in with what you did to the team. Those are two separate instances where I trusted you and you lied to me. And if you have forgotten I hate being lied to."

"Abby, you know who your talking to. Your beef is with me, not my son. Let him go and let's talk this out between the two of us."

"You really think I'm gonna fall for that physiology crap? You know where Rusty and Danny are right now? In a prison cell and you are going to get them both a four month sentence or your son dies!" I pointed the gun directly at Linus.

Bobby went quiet. "Abigail, there is no need for this talk. Come, tell me what kind of heists have you been up to lately? More Barbra Strizand's or Shakespeare's?"

"I'm sure my life now is no less secret to you than it was back then" I replied, coldly.

"Yes, I have seen news of your work. That last one was a brutal one wasn't it? I'm surprised you pulled that one off."

"There were casualties as I mentioned but that won't be much of a problem once were done here."

"Did you and Rusty ever-?" Bobby asked, not wanting to know the answer.

"I don't see how it's any of your business my relationship with Rusty. And if I were you I would be getting on that phone to call in one of your favors right about now. You know how my finger can sometimes slip on the trigger" I threatened, still pointing the gun at Linus.

"And why would you think I any favors I can redeem? How do you know I wouldn't get the sentence reversed once you left?" Bobby asked pointedly.

I hesitated not wanting to admit it. "Because…because I trust you. I know you are a man of your word. No matter what happened in the past I know that is something that will never change. You owe me a favor Bobby. And today I'll calling it in. And Bobby I know when you return the favor you don't disappoint."

Bobby smiled as he picked up the phone.


	38. Chapter 38

Author's Note: Hey Guys! I just want to say thank you to anyone reading this! It means the world to me that you guys actually read my writing and enjoy it! I have to say it's amazing looking back now and seeing how my writing has evolved from the beginning! I started out with a lighted hearted story without really gritty emotion or seriousness to it. I am so thankful for all of you that critiqued me and made this story the best that it can be! You all have had such an impact on this story and this story is yours as much as it is mine! This is the last chapter and I must say thank you for sticking this out with me! I will be creating a sequel to this story also following the films somewhat. If you have any ideas as to how this story should continue and concerning the fates of the characters I would love to hear them! Look for the sequel which should be coming soon! Love ya all!-Gooniegirl

"Come on Mom! Were gonna be late! And if were late I will never hear the end of it from Rusty!" I yelled into the house. Mom was packing up the last of the boxes and I was honking the horn of the car outside.

We were leaving. We were leaving the bad memories and starting over. This concept was nothing new to me, as it's something that thieves do often in their lifetime. I can't count how many schools I have gone to and different states I have visited. Probably all of them, they all start to run together after a while. I've never been good at geography.

Now on the other hand I can name all the countries I have visited. Most were for work, though not the work that normal people were going there for. I was going there to steal something or other from someone of other. Though that wasn't always the case. Sometimes I went to other countries to lie low for a while, having done a crime too publicized that crossing the border into another state wouldn't help me. This was one of those times.

We were off to somewhere, we didn't know yet. We made the decision to let the boys pick since We knew it would be out of the country of course. But we decided to let the boys pick the destination, they were in jail after all. So basically we were packing everything, leaving and never coming back. Thieves aren't supposed to be sentimental and if you're a sentimental person and are looking at becoming a thief for your line of work, I am advising you against it. It's not worth it. You have to be a person who has all the essentials already packed and ready to go at a moments notice.

Honestly I was ready to leave this house, the place wasn't my home anymore. My home lied elsewhere, in the heart of a man that I was going to be picking up from jail. We all needed a new beginning, a fresh start.

You would think that Danny, Rusty, and me would look back on The Bellango Heist with pride having pulled off the greatest heist in the world. But we didn't. It was bittersweet for us. A whole lot of bitter and not enough sweet if you asked me. We wanted to forget about the whole ordeal all together and that's what we sent out to do.

"Coming Darling! This is the last box" she said as she walked out of the house, giving it once last look with teary eyes. My mom was one of those sentimental people not cut out to be a thief if you hadn't noticed. The mother daughter relationship that was broken when she walked out that door was repaired after much fighting and crying on both sides. I forgave her for her infidelity and we became closer. We were moving on and starting anew.

Mom put the last box in the trunk and we drove out of our neighborhood for the last time. Mom stopped and looked back on where we used to live. But I didn't. Looking back is too hard, thieves only look forward.

AT THE JAIL

I watched the metal gates that had separated us for so long go up. I had dreamed of this moment since the very day they took them. They took the two people who meant the most to me. But this time it wasn't a dream. It was real.

I had replayed the scene so many times in my head. What I would do, what I would say. But none of what I had imagined happened.

Rusty stood there right before me, neither of us moving, neither of us speaking. It seemed as if the world stood still. We just stared right into each other's eyes. Right into the soul that we knew was in the love with the other.

Years later when we talked about this moment Rusty said that words couldn't express the feelings he felt seeing me for the first time in so long. That he was scared to touch me, to talk to me in case I wouldn't be there. In case I was his imagination and vanished as soon as one of us made a movement. He wanted to see me, to hold me with his eyes for as long as he could in case I would vanish any second. I made the first move.

I took the few steps that existed between us. I stood and inch away from his face, felt his breath on my skin and kissed him. Right then and there, kissed him like my life depended on it and he was the air I needed to survive. We kissed the most passionate kiss in the history of kisses, the kiss the movies portray and that you hope is out there somewhere for you. But this kiss surpassed all of those because our kiss was the kiss of Abby and Rusty.

My dad eventually came along and broke us up with a loud "Hey, Hey, Hey! You think you can just kiss my daughter in front of me the second we get out of jail! Have some respect!" I laughed breaking away from his kisses.

"Sorry Dad, I'm the guilty one here. I started it" I admitted lightheartedly.

"That word takes on new meaning after being jail" Danny replied, solemnly.

"What? Guilty?" I asked seriously.

"No, Dad" Danny replied. I smiled and hugged him like I had wanted to for the longest time. I was home.

Me and Rusty weren't perfect. There are things we didn't talk about, him and me. There just were things that were off the book, unable to be talked about that happened to the both of us that we could never tell each other. Telling each other all our secrets would open the floodgates to things we didn't want to know about the other. It would hurt the other one too much to know. To know about all his past relationships in my case. And in his, to hear anything about Bobby Caldwell would send his blood pressure through the roof. Which is why he didn't know about how I got him and Danny out in such a short period of time. It was one of those "don't ask, don't tell kind of things." I'm saying this because little did we know those flood gates were about to open for the both of us. Some past secrets can't be kept hidden. Mine went by the name of Bobby and his went by the name of Isabel.


End file.
